The judgments our enemies make about us come nearer to the truth than those we make about ourselves.
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
The light that was shadowed then
Was seen to be our lives,
Everything about us that love might wish to examine,
Then put away for a certain length of time, until
The whole is to be reviewed, and we turned
Toward each other, to each other.
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
I shall be a benefactor if I conquer some realms from the night, if I report to the gazettes anything transpiring about us at that season worthy of their attention,—if I can show men that there is some beauty awake while they are asleep,—if I add to the domains of poetry.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)