Careful Words

impulse (n.)

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man,

Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): The Tables Turned.

  Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 a d): Meditations. ix. 7.

I am the very slave of circumstance

And impulse,—borne away with every breath!

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Sardanapalus. Act iv. Sc. 1.