quote · Legacy record
All-knowing, all-directing God! In whom we move and live, Our thoughts, and works, and empty days, And careless wrongs forgive; But most in need the cruel heart That breeds the conscious wrong, And cares not for the consequence To helpless old and young. Some wilful deeds are perfect crimes, And some less wicked are, Because ’twas meant that good should spring Beneath the baleful star. Yet of all sinful beings most In need of mercy those, Who having power much good to do, All goodness would oppose, And turn heaven’s bounteous gifts to gall, And nature’s smiles to blows.
All-knowing, all-directing God! In whom we move and live, Our thoughts, and works, and empty days, And careless wrongs forgive; But most in need the cruel heart That breeds the conscious wrong, And cares not for the consequence To helpless old and young. Some wilful deeds are perfect crimes, And some less wicked are, Because ’twas meant that good should spring Beneath the baleful star. Yet of all sinful beings most In need of mercy those, Who having power much good to do, All goodness would oppose, And turn heaven’s bounteous gifts to gall, And nature’s smiles to blows.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Horne (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
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- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 450 · printed citation: Horne · subject: POWER
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.