Quotations and Literature Forum

...Does anyone know?

A quick look in Bartlett's revealed:

To each his suff'rings: all are men,
Condemned alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain,
Th'unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate,
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies?
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.

--Thomas Gray, "On a Distant Prospect of Eton College" [1742]


And then a footnote: "See Ecclesiastes 1:18":

In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

_________________
Mr. Fussbudget

True wit is nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

Here's a couple webpages....

http://www.dearbornbaptist.org/Ecclesia ... sson8.html
http://www.xrefer.com/entry/208409

From ignorance our comfort flows,
The only wretched are the wise.
~Prior, Matthew (1664 - 1721)
British poet. To the Hon. Charles Montague