If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable impression of himself. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Our own heart, and not other men's opinion, forms our true honor. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole, its body brevity, and wit its soul. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Prose: words in their best order; poetry: the best words in the best order. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Swans sing before they die— 't were no bad thing Should certain persons die before they sing. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Men, I still think, ought to be weighed, not counted. Their worth ought to be the final estimate of their value. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
As it must not, so genius cannot be lawless; for it is even that constitutes its genius-- the power of acting creatively under laws of its own origination. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagination than the memory. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
There is an art of which every man should be a master the art of reflection. If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a man at all? - William Hart Coleridge
A grief without a pang, void, dark and drear,A drowsy, stifled, unimpassioned grief,Which finds no natural outlet or relief,In word, or sigh, or tear. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Poetry: the best words in the best order. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
No man was ever yet a great poet, without at the same time being a profound philosopher. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
On Pilgrim's Progress: I could not have believed beforehand that Calvinism could be painted in such exquisitely delightful colors. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
No Voice; but oh! the silence sank like music on my heart. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Only the wise possess ideas; the greater part of mankind are possessed by them. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Experience informs us that the first defense of weak minds is to recriminate. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
As a man without forethought scarcely deserves the name of a man, so forethought without reflection is but a metaphorical phrase for the instinct of a beast.- (1772-1834) - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awake, you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then? - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us. But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The act of praying is the very highest energy of which the human mind is capable; praying, that is, with the total concentration of the faculties. The great mass of worldly men and of learned men are absolutely incapable of prayer. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Advice is like snow -- the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper in sinks into the mind. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
There is no such thing as a worthless book though there are some far worse than worthless; no book that is not worth preserving, if its existence may be tolerated; as there may be some men whom it may be proper to hang, but none should be suffered to starve. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
She is not fair to outward view As many maidens be; Her loveliness I never knew Until she smiled on me; Oh! then I saw her eye was bright, A well of love, a spring of light. - Hartley Coleridge
What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then? - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Silence does not always mark wisdom. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
She is not fair to outward viewAs many maidens be;Her loveliness I never knewUntil she smiled on me.Oh! then I saw her eye was bright,A well of love, a spring of light. - Hartley Coleridge
Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I have seen gross intolerance shown in support of tolerance. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A man’s desire is for the woman, but the woman’s desire is rarely other than for the desire of the man. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Sir, I admit your general rule, That every poet is a fool, But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is not a poet. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Oh sleep! It is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason or imagination, rarely or never. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The most happy marriage I can imagine to myself would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. - Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner. - Mary Shelley
He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge