Envy will merit, as its shade, pursue,
But, like the shadow, proves the substance true.
Alexander Pope in Essay on Man
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Envy follows merit like the shadow follows the body.
Upon Honour. A Fragment.
Honour, I say, or honest Fame,
I mean the substance, not the name;
(Not that light heap of tawdry wares,
Ermin, Coronets, and Stars,
Which often is by merit sought,
By gold and flatt'ry oft'ner bought.
The shade, for which Ambition looks,
In Selden's or in Ashmole's books):
But the true glory which proceeds,
Reflected bright from honest deeds,
Which we in our Own breast perceive,
And Kings can neither take nor give.
poem by Matthew Prior
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Shade and Shadow Dark and Night
Shade and Shadow
Dark and Night
Demons move
Beyond your sight
Moving slow
Cross the ground
Never do they make a sound
Shade and Shadow
Dark and Night
A murder has
Taken to flight
Stirring up the
Cold dead air
Does it matter?
Do you care?
Shade and Shadow
Dark and Night
Thoughts fill your mind
You think you might
These toughts they
Circle in your head
More and more you
Wish your dead
Shade and Shadow
Dark and Night
Capitulate
Give up the fight
It's too much effort
To go on
You're going
Going going gone
poem by Anonymous Ghurl
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Sonnet: Envy
In human hearts, the fire of Envy burns,
All night and day, since birth until one’s death!
No matter what lessons the mind still learns,
The eyes of Envy stay green till last breath.
Why should Envy occupy the heart’s core?
Does God not give talents to all the men?
To everyone, He opens a new door!
Just sinless labor will earn him Heaven.
But not all men are made of same substance;
Yet, plenty can be done in any field;
One’s toil’s outweighed by environment and chance;
To suppress others, powers never wield!
The poison, Envy devours any heart,
And spells chaos and doom for any art.
poem by John Celes
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Sonnet 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since everyone hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new.
Speak of the spring, and foison of the year;
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear,
And you in every blessèd shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
poem by William Shakespeare
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Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
Aesop in The Dog and the Shadow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I DON'T ENVY WOMEN 2...by talile ali
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
THE STUFF THEY HAVE TO GO THRU
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
HOW COULD REALITY BE SO CRUEL
I GOT A FRIEND
CUTE AS HELL
I'LL LOVE HER TILL THE BITTER END
BEEN RAPED SO MUCH
LOOKED TO GOOD TO TOUCH
MESSED UP PRICE FOR A PRETTY FACE, MY FRIEND
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
THE SHIT THEY HAVE TO GO THRU HURTS SO MUCH
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
HOW COULD REALITY BE SO CRUEL AND TRUE
I HAVE ANOTHER FRIEND
ALL OVER THE PLACE
AS IF SHE LOST HER MIND
WITH HEAVY FLOWS
AND HORMONE WOES
IT'S A MIRACLE SHE'S NOT DYIN
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
THE STUFF THEY GO THRU BECAUSE WE JUST DON'T
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
THE BRAINLESS CRUELTY JUST SIMPLY WON'T
THESE GIRLS I KNOW
THEY ALL OWN MY HEART
TO KNOW SUCH GREAT DESPAIR IS BEYOND JUST FAIR
NEVER KNOWING
A MOMENTS PEACE
AND UNTROUBLED LOVE THAT THEY CAN NEVER SHARE
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
THE STUFF THEY ALL HAVE TO GO THRU
I DON'T ENVY WOMEN
NO I DON'T
HOW COULD THEIR LIFE BE SO CRUEL
poem by Talile Ali
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A Lover's Envy
I envy every flower that blows
Along the meadow where she goes,
And every bird that sings to her,
And every breeze that brings to her
The fragrance of the rose.
I envy every poet's rhyme
That moves her heart at eventime,
And every tree that wears for her
Its brightest bloom, and bears for her
The fruitage of its prime.
I envy every Southern night
That paves her path with moonbeams white,
And silvers all the leaves for her,
And in their shadow weaves for her
A dream of dear delight.
I envy none whose love requires
Of her a gift, a task that tires:
I only long to live to her,
I only ask to give to her
All that her heart desires.
poem by Henry Van Dyke
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The Bushman
When the merchant lies down, he can scarce go to sleep
For thinking of his merchandise upon the fatal deep;
His ships may be cast away or taken in a war,
So him alone we'll envy not, who true bushmen are.
Who true bushmen are,
So him alone we'll envy not, who true bushmen are!
When the soldier lies down, his mind is full of thought
O'er seeking that promotion which so long he has sought;
He fain would gain repose for mortal wound or scar,
So him also we'll envy not, who true bushmen are.
When the sailor lies down, his mind he must prepare
To rouse out in a minute if the wind should prove unfair.
His voyage may be stopped for the want of a spar,
So him also we'll envy not, who true bushmen are.
When the bushman lies down, his mind is free from care,
He knows his stock will furnish him with meat, wear and tear.
Should all commerce be ended in the event of a war,
Then bread and beef won't fail us boys, who true bushmen are.
Then fill, fill your glasses, a toast I'll give you, then,
To you who call yourselves true-hearted men.
Here's a health to the soldier and e'en the jolly tar,
And may they always meet as good friends as we bushmen are.
Who true bushmen are,
And may they always meet as good friends as we bushmen are.
poem by Andrew Barton Paterson
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Darkness Left
Don’t think I walk
in medieval dark.
I walk in shadow shade.
Still searching convert
for transmuting light.
The advantage of shade?
I don’t get burnt dismayed.
Totally needlessly
indiscriminately darkened done.
By scorching ray of inferno sun.
Still searching shadow creation
transmutation scientific revelation.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Sun and Shadow
As I look from the isle, o'er its billows of green,
To the billows of foam-crested blue,
Yon bark, that afar in the distance is seen,
Half dreaming, my eyes will pursue:
Now dark in the shadow, she scatters the spray
As the chaff in the stroke of the flail;
Now white as the sea-gull, she flies on her way,
The sun gleaming bright on her sail.
Yet her pilot is thinking of dangers to shun,--
Of breakers that whiten and roar;
How little he cares, if in shadow or sun
They see him who gaze from the shore!
He looks to the beacon that looms from the reef,
To the rock that is under his lee,
As he drifts on the blast, like a wind-wafted leaf,
O'er the gulfs of the desolate sea.
Thus drifting afar to the dim-vaulted caves
Where life and its ventures are laid,
The dreamers who gaze while we battle the waves
May see us in sunshine or shade;
Yet true to our course, though the shadows grow dark,
We'll trim our broad sail as before,
And stand by the rudder that governs the bark,
Nor ask how we look from the shore!
poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Of Shadow of Light
The rain on the stars,
of light and shadow,
both wrought of the same substance,
gave way to the life,
and on each dropp sang the nymphs,
whose names invoked a deep mundane power,
both real and elusive,
So the flood of shadow and light,
flowed on each star,
within angels' sight,
and so were drowned all stars,
in shadow, in light,
that each came to come,
to separate day from night,
And so the sun,
of fire,
began from water,
and a song of the nymphs,
of Shadow of Light.
poem by Aamir Zain
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Merit is often an obstacle to fortune; the reason is it produces two bad effects, envy and fear.
As for the Pope, I am too old to be frightened by his shadow, and am quite sure his shadow or Substance will do less harm to the liberties of my country than will a party, who seek to acquire political power by exciting religious bigotry in the minds of their duped followers.
quote by Ezra Cornell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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People that are conceited of their own merit take pride in being unfortunate, that themselves and others may think them considerable enough to be the envy and the mark of fortune.
quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Shade
by the shadow
of the mountain
i am taking
a shade
on the shade
of a tree
i take my
shade
on the shade
of my body
i am taking
my shade
on the shade
of my soul
the mountain
the tree and
my body
also take
their shade
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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About The Shadows
if you want to get rid of your shadow
then kill light
do not reflect upon anything
do not move
do not be yourself in substance
be not a body but be a soul
there is no shadow
when the past is murdered
sometimes i ask
why do you fear or hate the very part of yourself?
when you pierce it with your pointing finger
there is no pain there is nothing that is pierced
live in the dark where shadows are no more.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The substance of my self (Terzanelle)
The substance of my self remain
in every speck of dignity,
in humility and pain,
the shadow of my soul remains me
in fogged out looks
in every speck of dignity,
in every word, in poems in electronic books
fading away, lamenting, cry
in fogged out looks
every thing, where nostalgia runs dry
in the well of my spirit and soul
fading away lamenting, cry
like a unreachable goal
with love crumbling into hallucinations
in the well of my spirit and soul
flowering like a bunch of bloody carnations.
The substance of my self remain
with love crumbling into hallucinations
in humility and pain.
{References: The shadow of my soul by Federico Garcia Lorca and The shadow of my soul by Roy Campbell.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Love's Truth
My will is free,
The cost is to another,
Benefit to self.
My love is free.
The cost is to myself,
Benefit to many.
One has something to prove.
One proves something.
So which will I prove?
I can choose only one.
Will is proven at the cost of love.
Love is proven at the cost of will.
True will proves my truth to self.
True love proves my truth to all.
To which am I true?
poem by Ryan Lee Morris
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Ugliness of Lies
The ugliness of lies
Deception dressed in verse
Vexful to the eyes
When truth is thus reversed.
Wasted talent true
Devoid of substance deep
All these vain lies construe
They are not worth to keep
Nor read for precious Time
But merit human trash
The garbage bin its place sublime
Its cheap purpose - to bash.
Copy right Cynthia Buhain Baello
March 2,2010
Philippines
poem by Cynthia Buhain-Baello
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