quote · Legacy record
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth, With power to grace them, or to crown with health, Our little lot denies; but Heaven decrees To all, the gift of minist’ring to ease: The gentle offices of patient love, Beyond all flattery, and all praise above; The mild forbearance of another’s fault, The taunting word suppress’d as soon as thought; On these Heaven bade the sweets of life depend; And crush’d ill fortune when she gave a friend. A solitary blessing few can find; Our joys with those we love are intertwined; And he whose wakeful tenderness removes Th’ obstructing thorn which wounds the breast he loves, Smoothes not another’s rugged path alone, But scatters roses to adorn his own.
To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth, With power to grace them, or to crown with health, Our little lot denies; but Heaven decrees To all, the gift of minist’ring to ease: The gentle offices of patient love, Beyond all flattery, and all praise above; The mild forbearance of another’s fault, The taunting word suppress’d as soon as thought; On these Heaven bade the sweets of life depend; And crush’d ill fortune when she gave a friend. A solitary blessing few can find; Our joys with those we love are intertwined; And he whose wakeful tenderness removes Th’ obstructing thorn which wounds the breast he loves, Smoothes not another’s rugged path alone, But scatters roses to adorn his own.
Approximate author period: c. 1789 AD · early modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Hannah More
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1789 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint (1745–1833)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 241 · printed citation: Hannah More · subject: FRIENDSHIP
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