Thought discovered is the more possessed. [ Young ]
These riches are possessed, but not enjoyed. [ Homer ]
No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest,
Till half mankind were like himself possessed. [ Cowper ]
What careth she for hearts when once possessed? [ Byron ]
Men possessed with an idea cannot be reasoned with. [ Froude ]
Rich men are indeed rather possessed by their money than possessors. [ Burton ]
The silent snow possessed the earth, and calmly fell our Christmas-eve. [ Tennyson ]
The jealous is possessed by a fine mad devil
and a dull spirit at once. [ Lavater ]
Of all things that man possesses, women alone take pleasure in being possessed. [ Malherbe ]
We seldom find persons whom we acknowledge to be possessed of good sense, except those who agree with us in opinion. [ Rochefoucauld ]
The greatest geniuses have always attributed everything to God, as if conscious of being possessed of a spark of His divinity. [ B. R. Haydon ]
Neither is it safe to count upon the weakness of any man's understanding, who is thoroughly possessed of the spirit of revenge to sharpen his invention. [ Swift ]
Reputation is rarely proportioned, to virtue. We have seen a thousand people esteemed, either for the merit, they had not yet attained or for that they no longer possessed. [ St. Evremond ]
Various and very absurd notions prevailed among the ancients in regard to the dew; by some it was supposed to descend from the stars, and to be possessed of wonderful virtues. [ Barnard ]
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of. It heightens all the virtues which it accompanies; like the shades of paintings, it raises and rounds every figure, and makes the colors more beautiful, though not so glowing as they would be without it. [ Addison ]
It is very singular, how the fact of a man's death often seems to give people a truer idea of his character, whether for good or evil, than they have ever possessed while he was living and acting among them. Death is so genuine a fact that it excludes falsehood or betray its emptiness; it is a touchstone that proves the gold, and dishonors the baser metal. [ Hawthorne ]
Do you wish to become rich? You may become rich, that is, if you desire it in no half way, but thoroughly. A miser sacrifices all to his single passion; hoards farthings and dies possessed of wealth. Do you wish to master any science or accomplishment? Give yourself to it and it lies beneath your feet. Time and pains will do anything. This world is given as the prize for the men in earnest; and that which is true of this world is truer still of the world to come. [ F. W. Robertson ]
We see a world of pains taken and the best years of life spent in collecting a set of thoughts in a college for the conduct of life, and after all the man so qualified shall hesitate in his speech to a good suit of clothes, and want commonsense before an agreeable woman. Hence it is that wisdom, valour, justice and learning cannot keep a man in countenance that is possessed with these excellencies, if he wants that inferior art of life and behaviour called good-breeding. [ Steele ]
Throughout the pages of history we are struck with the fact that our remarkable men possessed mothers of uncommon talents for good or bad, and great energy of character; it would almost seem from this circumstance, that the impress of the mother is more frequently stamped on the boy, and that of the father upon the girl - we mean the mental intellectual impress, in distinction from the physical ones. Mothers will do well to remember that their impress is often stamped upon their sons. [ Helen Mar ]