Saxe Quotes & Sayings

Altogether, Cavalry operations are exceedingly difficult, knowledge of the country is absolutely necessary, and ability to comprehend the situation at a glance, and an audacious spirit, are everything. — Maurice De Saxe

Give me kisses! Nay, 'tis true
I am just as rich as you;
And for every kiss I owe,
I can pay you back, you know.
Kiss me, then,
Every moment, and again. — John Godfrey Saxe

You will be getting a haircut, won't you?"
Halt ran his hand through his hair. It was getting a little long, he thought.
I'll give it a trim," he said, his hand dropping unconciously to the hilt of his saxe knife. This time, Pauline did look up.
You'll get a haircut," she said. Her gaze was steady and unwavering.
I'll get a haircut," he agreed meekly. — John Flanagan

Out in Saxe-Coburg Street she stood still for a moment and looked at the gardens. He kissed me, she thought. He made the move; I didn't. The thought was an overwhelming one and invested the everyday world about her, the world of the square, of trees, of people walking by, with a curious glow, a chiaroscuro which made everything precious. It was the feeling, she imagined, that one had when one vouchsafed a vision. Everything is changed, becomes more blessed, making the humblest of surroundings a holy place. — Alexander McCall Smith

Order is the primary regulation of the celestial regions. — John Godfrey Saxe

Johann Nikolaus Forkel, author of the monograph of which the following pages afford a translation, was born at Meeder, a small village in Saxe-Coburg, on February 22, 1749, seventeen months before the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose first biographer he became. — Johann Nikolaus Forkel

Some speak of the public as if it were someone with whom they have had dinner at the Leipzig Fair in the Hotel de Saxe. Who is this public? The public is not a thing, but rather an idea, a postulate, like the Church. — Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

I love vast libraries; yet there is a doubt,
If one be better with them or without,
Unless he use them wisely, and, indeed,
Knows the high art of what and how to read. — John Godfrey Saxe

We (soldiers) are like cloaks,-one thinks of us only when it rains. — Maurice De Saxe

Every unit that is not supported is a defeated unit. — Maurice De Saxe

When Nature gives a gorgeous rose, Or yields the simplest fern, She writes this motto on the leaves, "To whom it may concern!" And so it is the poet comes And revels in her bowers, And, though another hold the land, Is owner of the flowers. — John Godfrey Saxe

Hope encourages men to endure and attempt everything; in depriving them of it, or in making it too distant, you deprive them of their very soul. — Maurice De Saxe

Long pains are light ones, Cruel ones are brief! — John Godfrey Saxe

Tis well to borrow from the good and the great; 'Tis wise to learn: 'tis God-like to create! — John Godfrey Saxe

The Poet's License! 't is the right, Within the rule of duty, To look on all delightful things Throughout the world of beauty. To gaze with rapture at the stars That in the skies are glowing; To see the gems of perfect dye That in the woods are growing, And more than sage astronomer, And more than learned florist, To read the glorious homilies Of Firmament and Forest. — John Godfrey Saxe

Many generals believe that they have done everything as soon as they have issued orders, and they order a great deal because they find many abuses. This is a false principle; proceeding in this fashion, they will never reestablish discipline — Maurice De Saxe

He shook his head. He didn't know. He couldn't tell when he had woken fully. He walked to the horses. They definitely seemed alarmed. But then, they would. After all, he had just leapt to his feet unexpectedly, waving his saxe knife around like a lunatic. — John Flanagan

Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made. — John Godfrey Saxe

The wise may find in trifles light as atoms in the air, some useful lesson to enrich the mind. — John Godfrey Saxe

So oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen! — John Godfrey Saxe

It is not big armies that win battles, it is the good ones. — Maurice De Saxe

It was six men of Hindustan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind) That each by observation Might satisfy the mind. — John Godfrey Saxe

Everyone has seen people dancing all night. But take a man and make him dance for a quarter of an hour without music and see if he can bear it. — Maurice De Saxe

But blast the man, with curses loud and deep, Whate'er the rascal's name, or age, or station, Who first invented, and went round advising, That artificial cut-off, Early Rising! — John Godfrey Saxe

Use makes a better soldier than the most urgent considerations of duty,
familiarity with danger enabling him to estimate the danger. He sees how much is the risk, and is not afflicted with imagination; knows practically Marshal Saxe's rule, that every soldier killed costs the enemy his weight in lead. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Although we human adults are really good at understanding other minds, we weren't always that way. It takes children a long time to break into the system. — Rebecca Saxe

I'm growing fonder of my staff;
I'm growing dimmer in my eyes;
I'm growing fainter in my laugh;
I'm growing deeper in my sighs;
I'm growing careless of my dress;
I'm growing frugal of my gold;
I'm growing wise; I'm growing
yes,
I'm growing old. — John Godfrey Saxe

God bless the man who first invented sleep! So Sancho Panza said and so say I; And bless him, also, that he didn't keep His great discovery to himself, nor try To make it, as the lucky fellow might A close monopoly by patent-right. — John Godfrey Saxe

I asked of Echo 't other day (Whose words are few and often funny), What to a novice she could say Of courtship, love, and matrimony. Quoth Echo, plainly, Matter-o'-money. — John Godfrey Saxe

Beauty intoxicates the eye, as wine does the body; both are morally fatal if indulged. — John Godfrey Saxe

Old Care has a mortgage on every estate, And that's what you pay for the wealth that you get. — John Godfrey Saxe

Say, what is life? 'Tis to be born,
A helpless Babe, to greet the light
With a sharp wail, as if the morn
Foretold a cloudy noon and night;
To weep, to sleep, and weep again,
With sunny smiles between; and then? — John Godfrey Saxe

If Prometheus was worthy of the wrath of heaven for kindling the first fire upon earth, how ought all the gods honor the men who make it their professional business to put it out? — John Godfrey Saxe

At Learning's fountain it is sweet to drink,
But 'tis a nobler privilege to think. — John Godfrey Saxe

All things of beauty are not theirs alone who hold the fee; but unto him no less who can enjoy, than unto them who own, are sweetest uses given to posses. — John Godfrey Saxe

It is wise to learn; it is God-like to create. — John Godfrey Saxe

Young men! it 's a critical thing to go Exactly right with a lady in tow; But when you are in the proper track, Just go ahead, and never look back! — John Godfrey Saxe

I like the lad who, when his father thought To clip his morning nap by hackneyed phrase Of vagrant worm by early songster caught, Cried, Served him right! it's not at all surprising; The worm was punished, sir, for early rising! — John Godfrey Saxe