John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
4191 Thomas Gray 1716-1771 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 4191 |
| AUTHOR: | Thomas Gray (1716–1771) |
| QUOTATION: | Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 14. |
| Note 1. See Young, Quotation 66. Nor waste their sweetness in the desert air.—Charles Churchill: Gotham, book ii. line 20. [back] |