The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers of Love,
And feed his sacred flame.
‘Love’ (1800)
With Donne, whose muse on dromedary trots,
Wreathe iron pokers into true-love knots.
Rhyme’s sturdy cripple, fancy’s maze and clue,
Wit’s forge and fire-blast, meaning’s press and screw.
‘On Donne’s Poetry’ (1818)
But still the heart doth need a language, still
Doth the old instinct bring back the old names.
‘The Piccolomini’ (1800) act 2, sc. 4 (translated from the German of Friedrich von Schiller)
So for the mother’s sake the child was dear,
And dearer was the mother for the child.
‘Sonnet to a Friend Who Asked How I Felt When the Nurse First Presented My Infant to Me’ (1797)
Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison!
‘This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison’ (1797) l. 1
When the last rook
Beat its straight path along the dusky air.
‘This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison’ (1797) l. 68
‘Alas!’ said she, ‘we ne’er can be
Made happy by compulsion!’
‘The Three Graves’ (1798) pt. 4, st. 12
Lingering he raised his latch at eve,
Though tired in heart and limb:
He loved no other place, and yet
Home was no home to him.
‘The Three Graves’ (1798) pt. 4, st. 16
Work without hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And hope without an object cannot live.
‘Work Without Hope’ (1825)
Like some poor nigh-related guest,
That may not rudely be dismist;
Yet hath outstayed his welcome while,
And tells the jest without the smile.
‘Youth and Age’ (1832)
He who begins by loving Christianity better than Truth will proceed by loving his own sect or
church better than Christianity, and end by loving himself better than all.