“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

— Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (written 1750, publ. 1751), St. 14

About Thomas Gray

1716 – 1771

English poet, author of "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard".

“The still small voice of gratitude.”

“Alas, regardless of their doom, / The little victims play!”

“Yet ah! why should they know their fate?”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“The instructions of an old man are precious.”

“Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom.”

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.”

“I call upon you, young men, to obey your heart, and be the nobility of this land.”

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”