James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
Waller
Circles are prais’d, not that abound / In largeness, but th’ exactly round; / So life we praise, that does excel, / Not in much time, but acting well.
Could we forbear dispute and practise love, / We should agree as angels do above.
Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse, / And every conqueror creates a muse.
Music so softens and disarms the mind, / That not an arrow does resistance find.
Poets lose half the praise they should have got, / Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
The fountain which from Helicon proceeds, / That sacred stream, should never water weeds.
The sacred wrestler, till a blessing given, / Quits not his hold, but, halting, conquers heaven.
The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed, / Lets in new light through chinks that time has made.
Toils of empires pleasures are.