Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Solitude
Oh! lost virtue, lost to manly thought,
Lost to the noble sallies of the soul!
Who think it solitude to be alone.
Dr. Young.—Night III. Line 6.
Solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
Tacitus.—“They make a desert, and call it peace.”
The conduct pursued by some civilized nations in exterminating those they call barbarians.
Riley’s Dict. Lat. Quot.
Mark! where his carnage and his conquests cease!
He makes a solitude, and calls it peace!
Byron.—The Bride of Abydos, Canto II. Stanza 20.
Choose them for your lords who spoil and burn whole countries, and call desolation peace.
Jasper Fisher.—The True Trojans, Act V. Scene 2.
And when the sword has made a solitude,
That you proclaim a feast.
Murphy.—Zenobia, Act IV.; and in his Arminius, Act III.
But midst the crowd, the hum, the shock of men,
To hear, to see, to feel, and to possess,
And roam along, the world’s tired denizen,
With none who bless us, none whom we can bless—
This is to be alone; this, this is solitude!
Byron.—Childe Harold, Canto II. Stanza 26.
Through the lone groves would pace in solemn mood,
Wooing the pensive charms of solitude.
Pye.—Alfred, Book III. Line 57.
Solitude’s the nurse of woe.
Parnell.—Hymn to Contentment, Line 24.
Solitude sometimes is best society,
And short retirement urges sweet return.
Milton.—Paradise Lost, Book IX. Line 250.
To wind the mighty secrets of the past,
And turn the key of time!
Kirke White.—Time a Poem, Line 249.
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude;
But grant me still a friend in my retreat,
Whom I may whisper—solitude is sweet.
Cowper.—Retirement, Line 740.
Sorrow’s faded form, and solitude behind.
Gray.—The Bard, Verse 4, last Line.
O solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.
Cowper.—Alexander Selkirk, Verse 1.