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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]