heaven

Chacun exige d'e"  tre innocent, a'   tout prix, me"  me si, pour cela, il faut accuser le genre humain et le ciel. Everyone insists on his or her innocence, at all costs, even if it means accusing the rest of the human race and heaven.

—Camus, Albert

Then Israel's monarch, after Heaven's own heart, His vigorous warmth did, variously, impart To wives and slaves: and, wide as his command, Scattered his Maker's image through the land.

—Dryden,John

All this, and heaven too!

—Henry, Philip

Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell.

—Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth

And God spake all these words, saying,Iamthe L thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that isinheaven above, or that isin the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the L thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thoushalt nottakethename of the L thy God invain; for the L will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember thesabbath day, to keep it holy. Six daysthou shalt labour and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the L thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the L made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the L blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long uponthelandwhichtheL thy Godgiveththee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars With memory of the old revolt from Awe, He reached the middle height, and at the stars, Which are the brain of heaven, he looked, and sank. Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank, The army of unalterable law.

—Meredith, George

Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high asheaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measurethereof islonger thanthe earth, and broader than the sea.

—Bible (Old Testament)

We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!

—Gilbert, Sir Humphrey

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is fromthe west, so far hath heremoved our transgressions from us.

—Bible (Old Testament)

When Britain first, at heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung this strain: 'Rule,Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves.'

—Thomson,James pseudonym 'BV',ByssheVanolis

Do not all charms fly At the mere touch of cold philosophy? There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: We know her woof, her texture; she isgiven In the dull catalogue of common things. Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings.

—Keats,John

Sweetly they slept On the blue fields of heaven, and then there crept A little noiseless noise among the leaves, Born of the very sign that silence heaves.

—Keats,John

But here I feel amends, The breath of Heav'n fresh-blowing, pure and sweet, With day-spring born; here leave me to respire.

—Milton,John

Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame. Take the moral law and make a nave of it And from the nave build haunted heaven.

—Stevens,Wallace

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   Some truths there are so near and obvious to the mind that a man need only open his eyes to see them. Such I take this important one to be, viz. that all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth, in a word all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, have not any subsistence without a mindöthat their being is to be perceived or known.

—Berkeley, George

I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

—Frost, Robert Lee

We are Giants in physical power: in a deeper than metaphorical sense, weareTitans, that strive, byheaping mountain on mountain, to conquer Heaven also.

—Carlyle,Thomas

: What do you think of marriage? : I take't, as those that deny purgatory, It locally contains or heaven, or hell; There's no third place in't.

—Webster,John

These, in the day when heaven was falling, The hour when earth's foundations fled, Followed their mercenary calling And took their wages and are dead.

—Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)

  I am†a mushroom On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then.

—Ford,John

   Some might say they don't believe in heaven Go and tell it to the man who lives in hell.

—Gallagher, Noel

Headlong themselves they threw Down from the verge of heaven, eternal wrath Burnt after them to the bottomless pit.

—Milton,John

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And thesea gave up the dead whichwere in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And deathand hell were cast intothelake of fire.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God.

—Browning, Elizabeth ne¤  e Barrett

Behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of 92 fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And said,Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

For I say unto you,That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

   Equality would be a heaven, if we could attain it.

—Trollope, Anthony

Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it: Thinkst thou that I who saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand hells In being deprived of everlasting bliss!

—Marlowe, Christopher

Even if heaven were real, and measured as Revelation says, so many cubits this wayand that, how gimcrack a place it would be, crammed with its pavements of gold, its gates of pearl and topaz, like a gigantic chunkof costume jewelry.

—Laurence, Margaret

   Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, And then thou must be damned perpetually! Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, That time may cease, and midnight never come. Fair nature's eye, rise, rise, again, and make Perpetual day; or let this hour be but Ayear, a month, a week, a natural day, That Faustus may repent and save his soul! O lente, lente currite, noctis equi: The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned. Oh, I'll leap up to my God!öWho pulls me down?ö See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament! One drop would save my soul, half a drop, ah, my Christ.

—Marlowe, Christopher

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Atimeto be born, and atimeto die; atimetoplant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; Atimetoweep, and atimeto laugh; atimetomourn, and a time to dance: A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

—Bible (Old Testament)

And may at last my weary age Find out the peaceful hermitage, The hairy gown and mossy cell, Where I may sit and rightly spell Of every star that heaven doth shew, And every herb that sips the dew, Till old experience to attain To something like prophetic strain.

—Milton,John

For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied heav'n, shall fail to reascend Self-raised, and repossess their native seat?

—Milton,John

How art thou fallen from heaven,O Lucifer, son of the morning!

—Bible (Old Testament)

There is a place (If ancient and prophetic fame in heav'n Err not) another world, the happy seat Of some new race called Man.

—Milton,John

I remember, I remember, The fir trees dark and high; I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky: It was a childish ignorance, But now 'tis little joy To know I'm farther off from heav'n Than when I was a boy.

—Honorius of Autun

But sweeter still than this, than these, than all, Is first and passionate loveöit stands alone, Like Adam's recollection of his fall; The tree of knowledge hath been pluck'döall's known And life yields nothing further to recall Worthy of this ambrosial sin, so shown, No doubt in fable, as the unforgiven Fire which Prometheus filch'd for us from heaven.

—Rochdale

Maiden, and mistress of the months and stars Now folded in the flowerless fields of heaven.

—Swinburne, Algernon Charles

Full on this casement shone the wintry moon, And threw warm gules on Madeleine's fair breast, As down she knelt for heaven's grace and boon; Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest, And on her silver cross soft amethyst, And on her hair a glory like a saint: She seemed a splendid angel, newly drest, Save wings, for heaven.

—Keats,John

The Church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is his new creation By water and the word; From heaven he came and sought her To be his holy bride, With his own blood he bought her. And for her life he died.

—Stone, Samuel John

From plots and treasons Heaven preserve my years, But save me most from my petitioners. Unsatiate as the barren womb or grave; God cannot grant so much as they can crave.

—Dryden,John

Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

—Bible (Old Testament)

God owns heaven but He craves the earth.

—Sexton, Anne ne¤  e Harvey

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

We are all going to heaven, and Vandyke is of the company.

—Gainsborough,Thomas

The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven.

—Rossetti, Dante Gabriel

With what nice care equivalents are given, How just, how bountiful, the hand of Heaven.

—Wordsworth,William

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell;The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost;The holy Catholick Church;The Communion of Saints;The Forgiveness of sins;The Resurrection of the body, And the life everlasting. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer

   I would that with sleepy, soft embraces The sea would fold meöwould find me rest In luminous shades of her secret places, In depths where her marvels are manifest; So the earth beneath her should not discover My hidden couchönor the heaven above herö As a strong love shielding a weary lover, I would have her shield me with shining breast.

—Gordon, Adam Lindsay

Nice philosophy May tolerate unlikelyarguments, But heaven admits no jest.

—Ford,John

He his fabric of the heavens Hath left to their disputes, perhaps to move His laughter at their quaint opinions wide Hereafter, when they come to model heaven And calculate the stars, how they will wield The mighty frame, how build, unbuild, contrive To save appearances, how gird the sphere With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb.

—Milton,John

Alas! so all things now do hold their peace, Heaven and earth disturbed in no thing† Calm is the sea, the waves work less and less; So am not I whom love, alas, doth wring, Bringing before my face the great increase Of my desires, whereat I weep and sing, In joy and woe, as in a doubtful ease. For my sweet thoughts sometime do pleasure bring, But by and by the cause of my disease Gives me a pang that inwardly doth sting, When that I think what grief it is again To live and lack the thing should rid my pain.

—Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of

I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come mine aid. My safety cometh from the Lord, Who heav'n and earth hath made.

—Scottish Metrical Psalms

Nature that heard such sound Beneath the hollow round Of Cynthia's seat, the airy region thrilling, Now was almost won To think her part was done, And that her reign had here its last fulfilling; She knew such harmonyalone Could hold all heaven and earth in happier unio'  n.

—Milton,John

Verily I say unto you. Thisgeneration shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Type of the wise who soar, but never roam; True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

—Wordsworth,William

   Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss! Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies! Come Helen, come give me my soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips, And all is dross that is not Helena.

—Marlowe, Christopher

It was the winter wild While the Heaven born child All meanly wrapped in the rude manger lies; Nature in awe to him Had doffed her gaudy trim With her great Master so to sympathize; It was no season then for her To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour.

—Milton,John

Good-night. Ensured release Imperishable peace, Have these for yours, While earth's foundations stand And skyand sea and land And heaven endures.

—Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)

Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new: That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do: For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; Saw the heaven fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nations'airy navies grappling in the central blue; Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm, Ulysses With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thunder-storm; Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle- flags were furled In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

—Tennyson

Le Ciel de¤  fend, de vrai, certains contentements; Mais on trouve avec lui des accommodements. True, heaven forbids us certain pleasures; But we always find a way to arrange things.

—Molie'  re,Jean Baptiste Poquelin

Wasthere ever sucha sunnystreet asthis Broadway! The pavement stones are polished with thetread of feet until they shine again† Heaven save the ladies, how they dress! We have seen more colours in these ten minutes, than we should have seen elsewhere, in as many days. What various parasols! what rainbow silks and satins! what pinking of thin stockings and pinching of thin shoes, and fluttering of ribbons and silk tassels, and display of rich cloaks with gaudy hoods and linings!

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

Wellcome, all Wonders in one sight! Eternity shut in a span. Summer in Winter, Day in Night. Heaven in Earth and God in Man.

—Crashaw, Richard

Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a heaven in hell's despair.

—Blake,William

That cordial drop heaven in our cup has thrown To make the nauseous draught of life go down.

—Rochester,JohnWilmot, 2nd Earl of

Give us back our suffering, we cry to Heaven in our heartsösuffering rather than indifferentism; for out of nothing comes nothing† Better have pain than paralysis! 616

—Nightingale, Florence

Heaven is for thee too high To know what passes there; be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being. Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there Live, in what state, condition, or degree, Contented that thus far hath been revealed Not of earth only but of highest heav'n.

—Milton,John

The moon is up, and yet it is not night; Sunset divides the sky with heröa sea Of glory streams along the Alpine height Of blue Friuli's mountains; Heaven is free From clouds, but of all colours seems to be Melted to one vast Iris of the West, Where the day joins the past eternity.

—Rochdale

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it isgrown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Heaven isnot a place, and it isnot atime.Heaven isbeing perfect.

—Bach, Richard

Mortals that would follow me, Love virtue, she alone is free, She can teach ye how to climb Higher than the sphery chime; Or if virtue feeble were, Heav'n itself would stoop to her.

—Milton,John

Verse hath a middle nature: heaven keeps souls, The grave keeps bodies, verse the fame enrols.

—Donne,John

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy, But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy; The youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is nature's priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his wayattended; At length the man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day.

—Wordsworth,William

   The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.

—Milton,John

The joys of marriage are the heaven on earth, Life's paradise, great princess, the soul's quiet, Sinews of concord, earthly immortality, Eternity of pleasures; no restoratives Like to a constant woman.

—Ford,John

Oh thou, that dear and happy isle The garden of the world ere while, Thou paradise of four seas, Which heaven planted us to please, But, to exclude the world, did guard With watery if not flaming sword; What luckless apple did we taste, To make us mortal, and thee waste?

—Marvell, Andrew

It must be soöPlato, thou reason'st well!ö Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!

—Addison,Joseph

Ring out, ye crystal spheres, Once bless our human ears (If ye have power to touch our senses so), And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the bass of Heaven's deep organ blow; And with your ninefold harmony Make up full consort to th'angelic symphony.

—Milton,John

Are these the choice dishes the Doctor has sent us? Is this the great poet whose works so content us? This Goldsmith's fine feast, who has written fine books? Heaven sends us fine meat, but the Devil sends cooks.

—Garrick, David

When red wine had brought red ruin And the death-dance of our times, Heaven sent us Soda Water As a torment for our crimes.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

   How at heaven's gates she claps her wings, The morn not waking till she sings.

—Lyly,John

My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love, And though the sager sort our deeds reprove, Let us not weigh them. Heaven's great lamps do dive Into their west, and straight again revive, But soon as once set is our little light, Then must we sleep one ever-during night. See Catullus 200:5.

—Campion,Thomas

   The One remains, the many change and pass; Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly: Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, Stains the white radiance of Eternity, Until Death tramples it to fragments.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return, The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn; Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam, Like wrecks of a dissolving dream.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Heaven's splendour over his head, Hell's darkness under his feet.

—Carlyle,Thomas

And missing thee, I walk unseen On the dry smooth-shaven green, To behold the wandering moon, Riding near her highest noon, Like one that had been led astray Through the heaven's wide pathless way; And oft as if her head she bowed, Stooping through a fleecy cloud.

—Milton,John

Come, madam, come, all rest my powers defy, Until I labour, I in labour lie. The foe oft-times having the foe in sight, Is tired with standing though he never fight. Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glistering, But a far fairer world encompassing. Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear, That busy fools may be stopped there. Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime Tells me from you that now 'tis your bed time.

—Donne,John

   What is our life? a play of passion; Our mirth the music of division; Our mothers' wombs the tiring-houses be Where we are dressed for this short comedy. Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is, That sits and marks still who doth act amiss; Our graves that hide us from the searching sun Are like drawn curtains when the play is done. Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest, Only we die in earnestöthat's no jest.

—Raleigh, Sir Walter

She walks in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

—Rochdale

   Music, the greatest good that mortals know, And all of heaven we have below.

—Addison,Joseph

A building without ornamentation is like a heaven without stars.

—Sandys, George

I have spoken so far only of the blissful visionary experience† But visionary experience is not always blissful. It's sometimes terrible. There is hell as well as heaven.

—Huxley, Aldous Leonard

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell; And in the lowest deep a lower deep Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide, To which the hell I suffer seems a heav'n.

—Milton,John

   Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n. On the Detraction Which Follow'd†

—Milton,John

   Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place; but where we are is hell, And where hell is, there must we ever be: And, to be short, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that is not heaven.

—Marlowe, Christopher

'O! help me heaven,'she prayed,'to be decorative and to do right!'

—Firbank, (ArthurAnnesley) Ronald

Home is heaven and orgies are vile, But you need an orgy, once in a while.

—Nash, (Frederic) Ogden

Is not this house as nigh heaven as my own?

—More, SirThomas

So¤ l o yo entiendo lo lejos que esta¤   el cielo de nosotros; pero conozco co¤  mo acortar las veredas.Todo consiste en morir, Dios mediante, cuando unoquiera y no cuando EŁ  l lo disponga. O, si t  u¤ quieres, forzarlo a disponer antes de tiempo. I know how far away Heaven is, all right, but I know the shortcuts.You just die,God willing, when you want to, not when He arranges it.Or if you want you can make Him arrange it earlier.

—Rulfo,Juan

   Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If Isay, Surely the darknessshall cover me; even thenight shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Oh God, if there be cricket in heaven, let there also be rain.

—Douglas-Home, Baron

If there is a heaven it's no doubt already filledöwith horses, chickens, lambs, and other poor creatures. People will simply not get in.

—Dudek, Louis

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forththebest robe, and put itonhim; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Let Eli rejoice with Leuconöhe is an honest fellow, which is a rarity. For I have seen theWhite Raven and Thomas Hall of Willingham andam myselfa greatercuriosity thanboth. Let Jemuel rejoice with Charadrius, who is from the and the sight of him isgood for the jaundice. For I look up to heaven which is my prospect to escape envy by surmounting it.

—Smart, Christopher

Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky, Imagine all the people Living for today.

—Lennon,JohnWinston

Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind With all thy charms, although this corporal rind Thou hast immanacl'd, while heav'n sees good.

—Milton,John

I gave you the end of the golden string; Only wind it into a ball, It will lead you in at Heaven's gate, Built in Jerusalem's wall.

—Blake,William

As I came through the desert thus it was, As I came through the desert: All was black, In heaven no single star, on earth no track; A brooding hush without a stir or note; The air so thick it clotted in my throat.

—Thomson,James pseudonym 'BV',ByssheVanolis

   I shall hear in heaven.

—Behn, Aphra ne¤  e  Amis

Is it any better in Heaven, my friend Ford, Than you found it in Provence?

—Williams,William Carlos

Women enjoyed (whatsoe'er before they've been) Are like romances read, or sights once seen: Fruition's dull, and spoils the play much more Than if one read or knew the plot before; 'Tis expectation makes a blessing dear; It were not heaven, if we knew what it were.

—Suckling, SirJohn

Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with the stars to see, Bread I dip in the riverö There's the life for a man like me, There's the life for ever.

—Stevenson, Robert Louis

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying,The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

—Bible (NewTestament)

A lawyer's dream of heaven: every man reclaimed his own propertyat the resurrection, and each tried to recover it from all his forefathers.

—Butler, Samuel

Still raise for good the supplicating voice, But leave to heaven the measure and the choice.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Thwackum was for doing justice, and leaving mercy to heaven.

—Fielding, Henry

The loathsome mask has fallen, the man remains Sceptreless, free, uncircumscribed, but man Equal, unclassed, tribeless, and nationless, Exempt from awe, worship, degree, the king Over himself; just, gentle, wise: but man Passionless?öno, yet free from guilt or pain, Which were, for his will made or suffered them, Nor yet exempt, though ruling them like slaves, From chance, and death, and mutability, The clogs of that which else might oversoar The loftiest star of unascended heaven, Pinnacled dim in the intense inane.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou liv'st Live well, how long or short permit to heaven.

—Milton,John

Titiro ki te rangi tahuri rawa ake, Kahore he whenua e†Kua riro: We looked up to heaven and before we knew where we were there was no land left†gone.

—Ihimaera,Witi Tame

Tamburlaine!ö A Scythian shepherd so embellishe'  d With nature's pride and richest furniture! His looks do menace heaven and dare the gods. His fiery eyes are fixed upon the earth.

—Marlowe, Christopher

All things began in order, so shall they end, and so shall they begin again; according to the ordainer of order and mystical mathematics of the city of heaven.

—Browne, SirThomas

There may be heaven; there must be hell.

—Browning, Robert

Whohathmeasured thewatersinthehollowof hishand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

—Bible (Old Testament)

The manwho never in his mind and thoughtstravelled to heaven is no artist.

—Blake,William

The poker player learns that sometimes both science and common sense are wrong; that the bumblebee can fly; that, perhaps, one should never trust an expert; that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by those with an academic bent.

—Mamet, David Alan

My idea of heaven is, eating pate¤   de foie gras to the sound of trumpets.

—Smith, Rev Sydney

For to be yong I wald not, for my wis, Off all this warld to mak me lord and king: The more of age, the nerar hevynnis blis.

—Henryson, Robert

There are many†canonized on earth, that shall never be Saints in Heaven.

—Browne, SirThomas

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And IJohn saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Hail holy Light, offspring of Heav'n first-born. Bright effluence of bright essence increate.

—Milton,John

Oh heav'nly fool, thy most kiss-worthy face Anger invests with such a lovely grace That Anger's self I needs must kiss again.

—Shute, Nevil originally Nevil Shute Norway

Order is Heaven's first law.

—Pope, Alexander

Artists are the only people in the world who really live. The others have to hope for heaven.

—Sloan,John French

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.Thy will be doneinearth, as it isinheaven.Giveus this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive ourdebtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

—Bible (NewTestament)

I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die, For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Pennies don't fall from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth. See Burke169:53.

—Thatcher, Margaret HildaThatcher, Baroness

Every time it rains, it rains Pennies from heaven. See also Thatcher 850:18.

—Burke,Johnny

O why did God, Creator wise, that peopled highest heav'n With Spirits masculine, create at last This novelty on earth, this fair defect Of nature, and not fill the world at once With men as angels without feminine, Or find some other way to generate Mankind?

—Milton,John

A god is not so glorious as a king. I think the pleasure they enjoy in Heaven, Cannot compare with kingly joys in earth. To wear a crown enchased with pearl and gold, Whose virtues carry with it life and death; To ask and have, command and be obeyed; When looks breed love, with looks to gain the prize, Such power attractive shines in princes'eyes!

—Marlowe, Christopher

O to be a dragon, a symbol of the power of Heavenöof silkworm size or immense; at times invisible. Felicitous phenomenon!

—Moore, Marianne Craig

A robin red breast in a cage Puts all Heaven in a rage.

—Blake,William

Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity, And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways.

—Milton,John

   I would renounce, therefore, the attempt to create heaven on earth, and focus instead on reducing the hell.

—Borovoy, A Alan

And he who gives a child a treat Makes joy-bells ring in Heaven's street, And he who gives a child a home Builds palaces in Kingdom come, And she who gives a baby birth Brings Saviour Christ again to Earth.

—Masefield,John Edward

'Twould ring the bells of heaven The widest peal for years, If Parson lost his senses And people came to theirs, And he and they together Knelt down with angry prayers For tamed and shabby tigers And dancing dogs and bears, And wretched, blind, pit ponies, And little hunted hares.

—Hodgson, Ralph

And see ye not yon braid, braid road, That lies across the lily leven? That is the path of Wickedness, Though some call it the Road to Heaven.

—Ballads

We have been too comfortable and too indulgentömany, perhaps, too selfishöand the stern hand of fatehasscoured ustoan elevationwhere we can see the great everlasting things that matter for a nation; the great peaks we had forgotten, of honour, duty, patriotism, and, clad in glittering white, the great pinnacle of sacrifice pointing like a rugged finger to Heaven.We shall descend into the valleys again, but as long as men and women of thisgeneration last, they will carry in their hearts the image of those great mountain peaks, whose foundations are not shaken, though Europe rock and sway in the convulsions of a great war.

—Lloyd George (of Dwyfor), David, 1st Earl

   In to thir dirk and drublie dayis, Quhone sabill all the hevin arrayis With mystie vapouris, cluddis and skyis, Nature all curage me denyis Off sangis, ballattis, and of playis.

—Dumas, Alexandre, pe'  re

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise,Peter; kill, and eat.

—Bible (NewTestament)

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

—Bible (NewTestament)

What is to prevent a daily newspaper from being made the greatest organ of social life? Books have had their dayöthe theatres have had their dayöthe temple of religion has had its day. A newspaper can be made to take the lead of all these in the great movements of human thought and of human civilisation. A newspaper can send more souls to Heaven, and save more from Hell, than all the churches or chapels in New Yorköbesides making money at the same time.

—Bennett,James Gordon, Snr

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

—Bible (NewTestament)

At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away: 'Spanishships of warat sea! Wehavesighted fifty-three!' Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: ''Fore God I am no coward; But I cannot meetthem here, for my ships are out of gear, And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but followquick. Wearesix ships oftheline; canwefight withfifty-three?' Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: 'I know you are no coward; You fly them for a moment to fight with them again. But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore. I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard, To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.' So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that day, Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven.

—Tennyson

   For singing till his heaven fills 'Tis love of earth that he instils, And ever winging up and up, Our valley is his golden cup, And he the wine which overflows.

—Meredith, George

I write of Hell; I sing (and ever shall) Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.

—Herrick, Robert

Never tell me that not one star of all That slip from heaven at night and softly fall Has been picked up with stones to build a wall.

—Frost, Robert Lee

This is the month, and this the happy morn Wherein the son of Heaven's eternal King, Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring.

—Milton,John

Iamnot yet so lost inlexicographyastoforgetthat words arethe daughters of earth, and thatthings arethesons of heaven. Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but thesigns of ideas: Iwish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things which they denote.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

   You stars that reigned at my nativity, Whose influence hath allotted death and hell, Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist, Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud, That when you vomit forth into the air, My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths, So that my soul may but ascend to heaven.

—Marlowe, Christopher

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven; To his feet thy tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, Who like me his praise should sing?

—Lyte, Henry Francis

Rapt, twirling in thy hand a withered spray, And waiting for the spark from heaven to fall.

—Arnold, Matthew

Thou waitest for the spark from heaven! and we, Light half-believers in our casual creeds† Who hesitate and falter life away, And lose tomorrow the ground won todayö Ah, do not we,Wanderer, await it too?

—Arnold, Matthew

I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

—Bible (NewTestament)

To love one maiden only, cleave to her, And worship her by years of noble deeds, Until they won her; for indeed I knew Of no more subtle master under heaven Than is the maiden passion for a maid, Not only to keep down the base in man, But teach high thought, and aimable words And courtliness, and the desire of fame, And love of truth, and all that makes man.

—Tennyson

I, methought, while the sweet breath of heaven Was blowing on my body, felt within A correspondent breeze, that gently moved With quickening virtue, but is now become A tempest, a redundant energy, Vexing its own creation.

—Wordsworth,William

Thank Heaven! the crisisö The danger is past, And the lingering illness Is over at lastö And the fever called 'Living' Is conquered at last.

—Poe, EdgarAllan

Wealth I ask not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me. All I ask, the heaven above, And the road below me.

—Stevenson, Robert Louis

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs isthe kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessedarethepeacemakers: for theyshall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessedare ye, whenmenshall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

—Bible (NewTestament)

The quincunx of heaven runs low, and 'tis time to close the five parts of knowledge.

—Browne, SirThomas

She even thinks that up in heaven Her class lies late and snores, While poor black cherubs rise at seven To do celestial chores.

—Cullen, Countee

   But think'st thou heaven is such a glorious thing? I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fair As thou, or any man that breathes on earth.

—Marlowe, Christopher

It was my thirtieth year to heaven Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood And the mussel pooled and the heron Priested shore.

—Thomas, Dylan Marlais

Ein einziger dankbarer Gedanke gen Himmel ist das vollkommenste Gebet. One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.

—Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim

  Butforme, theAlps and their peoplewerealikebeautiful in their snow, and their humanity; and I wanted, neither for them nor myself, sight of any thrones in heaven but the rocks, or of any spirits in heaven but the clouds.

—Ruskin,John

For neither man nor angel can discern Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible, except to God alone, By his permissive will, through heav'n and earth.

—Milton,John

Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood Upon our side, we who were strong in love! Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!

—Wordsworth,William

The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heav'n doth hold, And the gilded car of day, Hisglowing axle doth allay In the steep Atlantic stream.

—Milton,John

And he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

—Bible (NewTestament)

   In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

—Brooke, Rupert Chawner

I'm up to the chin in heaven.

—Middleton,Thomas

   Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.

—Louis,Joe pseudonym of  Joseph Louis Barrow

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought againstthe dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

—Bible (NewTestament)

When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

—Blake,William

Art thou pale for weariness Of climbing heaven, and gazing on the earth, Wandering companionless Among the stars that have a different birth,ö And ever-changing, like a joyless eye That finds no object worth its constancy?

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

What's come to perfection perishes. Things learned on earth, we shall practise in heaven. Work done least rapidly, Art most cherishes.

—Browning, Robert

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?

—Browning, Robert

When the sun shall be darkened, when the stars shall be thrown down, when the mountains shall be set moving, when the pregnant camels shall be neglected, when the savage beasts shall be mustered, when the seas shall be set boiling, when the souls shall be coupled, when the buried infant shall be asked for what sin she was slain, when the scrolls shall be unrolled, when heaven shall be stripped off, when Hell shall be set blazing, when Paradise shall be brought nigh, then shall a soul know what it has produced.

—The Koran

Padre nuestro que esta¤  s en el cielo Lleno de toda clase de problemas Con el cen‹  o fruncido Como si fueras un hombre vulgar y corriente No pienses ma¤  s en nosotros. Our Father who art in Heaven Full of all kinds of problems Ceaselessly frowning As if you were a simple man: Stop thinking about us.

—Parra, Nicanor

Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saiththe L of hosts, if Iwill notopenyouthewindows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

—Bible (Old Testament)

The fountains mingle with the river, And the rivers with the ocean; The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things, bya law divine, In one spirit meet and mingle. Why not I with thine?

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

   Therefore with Angels, and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious Name; evermore praising thee, and saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Glory be to thee,O Lord most High. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer

I have tried if I could reach that great resolution†to be honest without a thought of Heaven or Hell.

—Browne, SirThomas

Now possess, As lords, a spacious world, to our native heaven Little inferior, by myadventure hard With peril great achieved.

—Milton,John

Yes, Heaven is thine; but this Is a world of sweets and sours; Our flowers are merelyöflowers.

—Poe, EdgarAllan