R.S. Thomas Quotes

Give an inch he'll take an ell.

Give way to the Better if way to the Better there be It exacts a full look at the Worst.

If you run after two hares you will catch neither.

Man proposes God disposes.

Every conjecture we can form with regard to the works of God has as little probability as the conjectures of a child with regard to the works of a man.

A humble knowledge of oneself is a surer road to God than a deep searching of the sciences.

I will not fear for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow hard and cold

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

The Devil himself is good when he is pleased.

Even doubtful accusations leave a stain behind them.

Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one.

In the long run every government is the exact symbol of its people with their wisdom and unwisdom.

Innumerable are the illusions and legerdemain tricks of custom: but of all these perhaps the cleverest is her knack of persuading us that the miraculous by simple repetition ceases to be miraculous.

Habituation is a falling asleep or fatiguing of the sense of time which explains why young years pass slowly while later life flings itself faster and faster upon its course.

Happiness is action.

He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise.

Dry August and warm Doth harvest no harm.

The devil gets up to the belfry by the vicar's skirts.

Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.

Charity begins at home but should not end there.

The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors is like a potato - the only good belonging to him is underground.

Hero-worship exists has existed and will forever exist universally among mankind.

See the conquering hero comes! Sound the trumpets beat the drums!

Don't brood on what's past but never forget it either.

War makes rattling good history but Peace is poor reading.

History a distillation of rumor

Peace and rest at length have come All the day's long toil is past And each heart is whispering "Home Home at last!"

He that resolves to deal with none but honest men must leave off dealing.

If it were not for hopes the heart would break.

Hope is one of the principal springs that keep mankind in motion.

Appetite with an opinion of attaining is called hope the same without such opinion despair.

The world is my country all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion.

If you talk to God you are praying if God talks to you you have schizophrenia.

If you are possessed by an idea you find it expressed everywhere you even smell it.

He is idle that might be better employed.

Some people have a perfect genius for doing nothing and doing it assiduously.

Where ignorance is bliss Tis folly to be wise.

Aspects are within us and who seems most kingly is king.

His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run though not to soar.

It is the heart always that sees before the head can see.

Macaulay is well for awhile but one wouldn't live under Niagara.

He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most.

The highest intellects like the tops of mountains are the first to catch and to reflect the dawn.

Intelligence must follow faith never precede it and never destroy it.

My soul today Is far away Sailing the Vesuvian Bay.

Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament but in the Reporters' gallery yonder there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.

Zeal without knowledge is fire without light.

If a little knowledge is dangerous - where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?

Sit down before fact as a little child be prepared to give up every preconceived notion follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads or you shall learn nothing.