Resolve, resolve, and to be men aspire.
Exert that noblest privilege, alone
Here to mankind indulged; control desire:
Let godlike Reason, from her sovereign throne,
Speak the commanding word I will! and it is done. [ Thomson ]
How shall I speak thee, or thy power address,
Thou god of our idolatry, the Press?
By thee, religion, liberty, and laws,
Exert their influence, and advance their cause:
By thee, worse plagues than Pharaoh's land befell.
Diffused, make earth the vestibule of hell;
Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise,
Thou ever bubbling spring of endless lies,
Like Eden's dread probationary tree.
Knowledge of good and evil is from thee! [ Cowper ]
As the gout seems privileged to attack the bodies of the wealthy, so ennui seems to exert a similar prerogative over their minds. [ Colton ]
Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire. [ Dr. Samuel Johnson ]
Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exert herself by a victory; envy spies out blemishes, that she may have another by a defeat. [ Colton ]
By conversing with the mighty dead, we imbibe sentiment with knowledge. We become strongly attached to those who can no longer either hurt or serve us, except through the influence which they exert over the mind. We feel the presence of that power which gives immortality to human thoughts and actions, and catch the flame of enthusiasm from all nations and ages. [ Hazlitt ]
No process is so fatal as that which would cast all men in one mould. Every human being is intended to have a character of his own, to be what no other is, to do what no other can do. Our common nature is to be unfolded in unbounded diversities. It is rich enough for infinite manifestations. It is to wear innumerable forms of beauty and glory. Every human being has a work to carry on within, duties to perform abroad, influences to exert, which are peculiarly his, and which no conscience but his own can teach. [ Channing ]