Samuel Taylor Coleridge

common sense uncommon degree wisdom

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

sleep slept dream heaven flower awake

“What if you slept

And what if

In your sleep

You dreamed

And what if

In your dream

You went to heaven

And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower

And what if

When you awoke

You had that flower in you hand

Ah, what then?”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

water board shrink drop drink

“Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)water board shrink drop drink

“Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

poetry best words order

“Poetry: the best words in the best order.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

New readers classes sponges sand-glasses strain bag mogul

“Readers may be divided into four classes:

I. Sponges, who absorb all they read, and return it nearly in the same state, only a little dirtied.

II. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing, and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time.

III. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read.

IV. Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

general rule poet fool

“Sir, I admit your general rule,

That every poet is a fool,

But you yourself may serve to show it,

That every fool is not a poet.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

xanadu kubla khan alph sacred river sunless sea

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

poet philosopher

“No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

intolerance support tolerance

“I have seen gross intolerance shown in support of tolerance. ”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

sleep gentle pole

"Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,

Beloved from pole to pole."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

mind well-organized deficient humor

“No mind is thoroughly well-organized that is deficient in a sense of humor.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

fair breeze bew blow foam forrow silent sea

“The fair breeze blew,

The white foam flew,

And the forrow followed free.

We were the first to ever burst into the silent sea.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

swans sing die person

“Swans sing before they die— 't were no bad thing

Should certain persons die before they sing.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

politics fear folly

“In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.”

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

thinking man purpose

"If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a man at all?"

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

imagination perception agent

"Imagination is the living power and prime agent of all human perception."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

art master reflection

"There is one art of which people should be masters - the art of reflection."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

happy marrige deaf man blind woman

"The most happy marriage I can picture or imagine to myself would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

deep thinking feeling truth revelation

"Deep thinking is attainable only by a man of deep feeling, and all truth is a species of revelation."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

today walks tomorrow

"And in today already walks tomorrow."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

man single motive

"No man does anything from a single motive."

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)