R.S. Thomas Quotes

The world would use us just as it did the martyrs, if we loved God as they did.

A great man is made so for others.

The treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been sanctified as a duty, and will be ennobled as a sacrifice.

Judged by the law of England, I know this crime entails upon me the penalty of death; but the history of Ireland explains that crime and justifies it.

A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them.

Great interests demand great safeguards.

These days, of course, the focus of talk about popular liberation through products is mostly associated with the Internet. I've been collecting computer ads and ads dealing with Internet industries.

If e-mail had been around before the telephone was invented, people would have said, 'Hey, forget e-mail! With this new telephone invention I can actually talk to people!'.

A golf course should aspire to generate as much energy as it consumes - golf should be leading the way toward energy net zero.

A generation ago [the Democratic Party] stood for progressive change. Now they defend every federal program as if each were sacred. They have become the most conservative force in American politics.

Yes, the world is now flat for publishing as well.

What about the rest of life? Respect for the sanctity of life, if you believe that it begins at conception, cannot end at birth.

We need to become energy independent or at least aspire to that.

Two things are going on at the same time with the flattening of the world: The relentless quest for efficiency is squeezing some of the fat out of life.

My mom enlisted in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and my parents actually bought our home thanks to the loan she got through the GI Bill.

Govern thy Life and Thoughts, as if the whole World were to see the one, and read the other.

Scalded cats fear even cold water.

Better a tooth out than always aching.

Slight small injuries, and they will become none at all.

Be the business never so painful, you may have it done for money.

A little skill in antiquity inclines a man to Popery.

Some of the best opportunities in the world are the most obvious ones.

For desired conclusions, we ask ourselves, “Can I believe this?”, but for unpalatable conclusions we ask, “Must I believe this?

A Boston man is the east wind made flesh.

It was a counter-attack and I had to take him down. I don't regret it and I would do it again if I had to.

They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy.

Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode (There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God.

Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed.

Some bold adventurers disdain The limits of their little reign, And unknown regions date descry.

Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate, Beneath the good how far,-but far above the great.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray; Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

The meanest flowret of the vale, / The simplest note that swells the gale, / The common sun, the air, and skies, / To him are opening paradise.

Where once my careless childhood strayed, / A stranger yet to pain.

The insect-youth are on the wing, Eager to taste the honied spring, And float amid the liquid noon!

The Attic warbler pours her throat, Responsive to the cuckoo's note, The untaught harmony of spring.

To brisk notes in cadence beating, glance their many-twinkling feet.

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind?

To Contemplation's sober eye. / Such is the race of Man.

Her track, where'er the goddess roves, Glory pursue, and gen'rous shame, Th' unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.

When depreciated, mutilated, or debased coinage (or currency) is in concurrent circulation with money of high value in terms of precious metals, the good money automatically disappears.

The finest flowers of genius have grown in an atmosphere where those of Nature are prone to droop, and difficult to bring to maturity.

In a knowledge-driven economy, talk is real work.

The fact that I haven't been married might qualify me as belonging in the nutty category to a lot of women.

I believe in singularity in relationships because you've got to have trust on both sides.

But I'm a citizen of Texas and try to spend most of my time there.

I'm not so proud to think that anything is unworthy, and I don't think I was that way 10 years ago.

Between Clive Owen winning at the Golden Globes and the British Academy announcing its nominations, of which Sideways received only one, I'm feeling pretty humbled these days.

When I moved to L.A. in 1989, the very first thing I did was this horrific pilot called To Protect And Surf.