A C Grayling
Series 3: Episode 14 - the author on his favourite line from a book...
“My mind to me a kingdom is, such perfect joy therein I find as far exceeds or earthly bliss that God or nature had assigned. Though much I want that most would have, yet still my mind forbids to crave”
That’s a poem by the Elizabethan poet Sir Edward Dyer. He died in 1607, rather a minor character. I like the poem though because it latches on to a truth which is that no matter what happens to you, even if you were locked up in a tiny little prison cell, you would still have the whole universe inside your head. You could think about things, have your memories, your hopes, your dreams, your fantasies, and that’s what the poem says. My mind to me a Kingdom is.
