Careful Words

immortal (n.)

immortal (adj.)

Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote,

And think they grow immortal as they quote.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Love of Fame. Satire i. Line 89.

And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.

James Beattie (1735-1803): The Hermit.

They may seize

On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand

And steal immortal blessing from her lips,

Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,

Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act iii. Sc. 3.

Awake, my soul! stretch every nerve,

And press with vigour on;

A heavenly race demands thy zeal,

And an immortal crown.

Philip Doddridge (1702-1751): Zeal and Vigour in the Christian Race.

One to destroy is murder by the law,

And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe;

To murder thousands takes a specious name,

War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Love of Fame. Satire vii. Line 55.

She was a form of life and light

That seen, became a part of sight,

And rose, where'er I turn'd mine eye,

The morning-star of memory!

Yes, love indeed is light from heaven;

A spark of that immortal fire

With angels shared, by Alla given,

To lift from earth our low desire.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: The Giaour. Line 1127.

  I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.

John Milton (1608-1674): Areopagitica.

Immortal gods, I crave no pelf;

I pray for no man but myself;

Grant I may never prove so fond,

To trust man on his oath or bond.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Timon of Athens. Act i. Sc. 2.

What though the field be lost?

All is not lost; th' unconquerable will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 105.

I have

Immortal longings in me.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Antony and Cleopatra. Act v. Sc. 2.

'T is true, 't is certain; man though dead retains

Part of himself: the immortal mind remains.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book xxiii. Line 122.

One of the few, the immortal names,

That were not born to die.

Alfred Bunn (1790-1860): Marco Bozzaris.

The moon of Mahomet

Arose, and it shall set;

While, blazoned as on heaven's immortal noon,

The cross leads generations on.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): Hellas. Line 221.

  Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act ii. Sc. 3.

There is a land of pure delight,

Where saints immortal reign;

Infinite day excludes the night,

And pleasures banish pain.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748): Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 66.

And there's a lust in man no charm can tame

Of loudly publishing our neighbour's shame;

On eagles' wings immortal scandals fly,

While virtuous actions are but born and die.

Stephen Harvey (circa 1627): Juvenal, Satire ix.

Though inland far we be,

Our souls have sight of that immortal sea

Which brought us hither.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Ode. Intimations of Immortality. Stanza 9.

And heaven had wanted one immortal song.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 197.

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!

Here we will sit and let the sounds of music

Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night

Become the touches of sweet harmony.

Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:

There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st

But in his motion like an angel sings,

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins.

Such harmony is in immortal souls;

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act v. Sc. 1.

  Plato affirmed that the soul was immortal and clothed in many bodies successively.

Diogenes Laertius (Circa 200 a d): Plato. xl.

Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth!

Immortal, though no more! though fallen, great!

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto ii. Stanza 73.

And ever against eating cares

Lap me in soft Lydian airs,

Married to immortal verse,

Such as the meeting soul may pierce,

In notes with many a winding bout

Of linked sweetness long drawn out.

John Milton (1608-1674): L'Allegro. Line 135.

Wisdom married to immortal verse.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Excursion. Book vii.

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!

Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!

Christopher Marlowe (1565-1593): Faustus.

I'm weary of conjectures,—this must end 'em.

Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life,

My bane and antidote, are both before me:

This in a moment brings me to an end;

But this informs me I shall never die.

The soul, secured in her existence, smiles

At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself

Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years;

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,

Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act v. Sc. 1.