There are three classes into which all the women past seventy that ever I knew were to be divided: 1. That dear old soul; 2. That old woman; 3. That old witch. – 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
Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Reviewers are usually people who would have been, poets, historians, biographer, if they could. They have tried their talents at one thing or another and have failed; therefore they turn critic. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess, that itself will need reforming. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I have often thought what a melancholy world this would be without children, and what an inhuman world without the aged. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order; – poetry = the best words in the best order. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
General principles… are to the facts as the root and sap of a tree are to its leaves. – 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
The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Intense study of the Bible will keep any writer from being vulgar, in point of style. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
If a man could pass through Paradise in a dream, and have a flower presented to him as a pledge that his soul had really been there, and if he found that flower in his hand when he awake – Aye, what then? – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
To most men experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which illuminate only the track it has passed. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Swans sing before they die – ’twere no bad thing should certain persons die before they sing. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
No mind is thoroughly well organized that is deficient in a sense of humor. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Until you understand a writer’s ignorance, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
How like herrings and onions our vices are in the morning after we have committed them. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
