'How seldom, friend! a good great man inherits <br />Honour or wealth with all his worth and pains! <br />It sounds like stories from the land of spirits <br />If any man obtain that which he merits <br />Or any merit that which he obtains.' <br /> <br />Reply to the Above <br /> <br />For shame, dear friend, renounce this canting strain! <br />What would'st thou have a good great man obtain? <br />Place? titles? salary? a gilded chain? <br />Or throne of corses which his sword had slain? <br />Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends! <br />Hath he not always treasures, always friends, <br />The good great man? three treasures, LOVE, and LIGHT, <br />And CALM THOUGHTS, regular as infant's breath: <br />And three firm friends, more sure than day and night, <br />HIMSELF, his MAKER, and the ANGEL DEATH!<br /><br />Samuel Taylor Coleridge<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-good-great-man-2/
