Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Mountains
Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains;
They crown’d him long ago
On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds,
With a diadem of snow.
Byron—Manfred. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 62.
’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.
Campbell—Pleasures of Hope. Pt. I. L. 7.
Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky.
Campbell—Pleasures of Hope. Pt. I. L. 4.
Mountains interposed
Make enemies of nations, who had else
Like kindred drops been mingled into one.
Cowper—The Task. Bk. II. L. 17.
To make a mountain of a mole-hill.
Henry Ellis—Original Letters. Second Series. P. 312.
Over the hills, and over the main,
To Flanders, Portugal, or Spain;
The Queen commands, and we’ll obey,
Over the hills and far away.
George Farquhar—The Recruiting Officer. Act II. Sc. 2.
Over the hills and far away.
Gay—The Beggar’s Opera. Act I. Sc. 1.
Round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
Goldsmith—The Deserted Village. L. 192.
What is the voice of strange command
Calling you still, as friend calls friend,
With love that cannot brook delay,
To rise and follow the ways that wend
Over the hills and far away.
Henley—Rhymes and Rhythms. 1.
Heav’d on Olympus tottering Ossa stood;
On Ossa, Pelion nods with all his wood.
Homer—Odyssey. Bk. XI. L. 387. Pope’s trans.
Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu?
Parturiunt montes; nascetur ridiculus mus.
What will this boaster produce worthy of this mouthing? The mountains are in labor; a ridiculous mouse will be born.
Horace—Ars Poetica. 138. Athenæus—Deipnosophists. 14. 7. (A preserved fragment.) Phædrus. IV. 22.
Pelion imposuisse Olympo.
To pile Pelion upon Olympus.
Horace—Odes. Bk. III. 4. 52.
Daily with souls that cringe and plot,
We Sinais climb and know it not.
Lowell—The Vision of Sir Launfal. Prelude to Pt. I.
Then the Omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.
Ovid—Metamorphoses. I.
Over the hills and o’er the main,
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain,
Queen Anne commands and we’ll obey,
Over the hills and far away.
The Merry Companion. Song 173. P. 149.
Hills peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise.
Pope—Essay on Criticism. Pt. II. L. 32.
I would have you call to mind the strength of the ancient giants, that undertook to lay the high mountain Pelion on the top of Ossa, and set among those the shady Olympus.
Rabelais—Works. Bk. IV. Ch. XXXVIII.
Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery.
Ruskin—True and Beautiful. Nature. Mountains. P. 91.
Who digs hills because they do aspire,
Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher.
Pericles. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 6.
The mountain was in labour, and Jove was afraid, but it brought forth a mouse.
Tachos, King of Egypt.
And o’er the hills and far away,
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
Beyond the night, across the day,
Thro’ all the world she followed him.
Tennyson—Daydream. The Departure. IV.
Imponere Pelio Ossam.
To pile Ossa upon Pelion.
Vergil—Georgics. I. 281.