Skip to content

The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Now I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me.

— A. E. Housman Last Poems (1922)

Another quote →

Topics

Justice

More quotes by A. E. Housman

Three minutes' thought would suffice to find this out; but thought is irksome and three minutes is a long time.

My heart always warms to people who do not come to see me, especially Americans, to whom it seems to be more of an effort.

And how am I to face the odds
Of man’s bedevilment and God’s?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.

Last Poems (1922)

The house of delusions is cheap to build, but draughty to live in, and ready at any instant to fall.

His folly has not fellow
Beneath the blue of day
That gives to man or woman
His heart and soul away.

A Shropshire Lad (1896)

All A. E. Housman quotes →

You may also like

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: A. E. Housman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.