The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

And the most difficult of tasks to keep
Heights which the soul is competent to gain.
‘The Excursion’ (1814) bk. 4, l. 136
I have seen
A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract
Of inland ground applying to his ear
The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;
To which, in silence hushed, his very soul
Listened intensely; and his countenance soon
Brightened with joy; for from within were heard
Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed
Mysterious union with its native sea.
‘The Excursion’ (1814) bk. 4, l. 1132
‘To every Form of being is assigned’,
Thus calmly spoke the venerable Sage,
‘An active Principle.’
‘The Excursion’ (1814) bk. 9, l. 1
The rapt one, of the godlike forehead,
The heaven-eyed creature sleeps in earth:
And Lamb, the frolic and the gentle,
Has vanished from his lonely hearth.
‘Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg’ (1835)
How fast has brother followed brother,
From sunshine to the sunless land!
‘Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg’ (1835)
The wiser mind
Mourns less for what age takes away
Than what it leaves behind.
‘The Fountain’ (1800)
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!
‘French Revolution, as it Appeared to Enthusiasts’ (1809) and ‘The Prelude’ (1850) bk. 9, l. 108
A genial hearth, a hospitable board,
And a refined rusticity.
‘A genial hearth’ (1822)
Not choice
But habit rules the unreflecting herd.
‘Grant that by this’ (1822)
The moving accident is not my trade;
To freeze the blood I have no ready arts: