quote · Legacy record
The seas are quiet when the winds are o’er, So calm are we, when passions are no more! For then we know how vain it was to boast Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost. Clouds of affection from our youthful eyes Conceal the emptiness which age descries: The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in new lights through chinks that time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home; Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, That stand upon the threshold of the new.
The seas are quiet when the winds are o’er, So calm are we, when passions are no more! For then we know how vain it was to boast Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost. Clouds of affection from our youthful eyes Conceal the emptiness which age descries: The soul’s dark cottage, battered and decayed, Lets in new lights through chinks that time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home; Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, That stand upon the threshold of the new.
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
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Waller (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- 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 23 · printed citation: Waller · subject: AGE
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.