Now why that erthe luves erthe, wondere me thinke, Or why that erthe for erthe sholde other swete or swinke: For when that erthe upon erthe es broghte withinbrinke, Thane shall erthe of erthe have a foulle stinke. Now, why earth loves earth, I wonder to think, Or why earth for earth should either sweat or labour: For when earth upon earth comes within the grave's brink, Then earth upon earth shall have a foul stink.

-Anonymous
c.1450  'Erthe oute of erthe', l.19^22.

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July1969.We came in peace for all mankind.

-Anonymous
AD1969  Text of the plaque left on the moon by the first astronauts to walk there, Buzz  Aldrin and Neil  Armstrong, 20  Jul.

Give me a firm spot on which to stand, and I shall move the earth.

-Archimedes
Traditionally attributed to Archimedes; a variation can be found in Plutarch Marcellus,14.

   He spoke, and loosed our heart in tears. He laid us as we lay at birth 31 On the cool flowery lap of earth.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Of  William Wordsworth. Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems,'Memorial Verses,  April1850', l.47^9.

And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know, Self-schooled, self-scanned, self-honoured, self-secure, Didst tread on Earth unguessed at.öBetter so! All pains the immortal spirit must endure, All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow, Find their sole speech in that victorious brow. Arnold

-Arnold, Matthew
  The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems,'Shakespeare'.

Wandering between two worlds, one dead, The other powerless to be born, With nowhere yet to rest my head, Like these, on earth I wait forlorn.

-Arnold, Matthew
  Poems: Second Series,'Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse', l.85^8.

Rather than have it the principal thing in my son's mind,I wouldgladly havehimthink thatthesunwent around the earth, and that thestars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament.

-Arnold,Thomas
  Letter to Dr Greenhill, 9 May.

   How many people is the earth able to sustain?

-Asimov, Isaac
Der Spiegel.

   Earth receive an honoured guest; WilliamYeats is laid to rest: Let the Irish vessel lie Emptied of its poetry.

-Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)
  'In Memory of  W.B.Yeats', pt.3.

Ithink it iswellalsofor themaninthestreettorealizethat there is no power on earth that can protect him from being bombed.Whatever people will tell him, the bomber will always get through.The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly thanthe enemy if you want to save yourselves.

-Baldwin (of Bewdley), Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl
  Speech in the House of Commons,10 Nov.

The only trulyalien planet is Earth.

-Ballard,J(ames) G(raham)
  'Which Way to Inner Space', in New Worlds, May.

Upon my buried body lay Lightly gentle earth

-Beaumont, Francis and Fletcher,John
^11 The Maid's Tragedy, act 2, sc.1.

Talis, inquiens, mihi videtur, rex, vita hominum praesens in terris, ad comparationem eius, quod nobis incertum est, temporis, quale cum te residente, ad caenam cum ducibus ac ministris tuis tempore brumale†adveniens unus passerum domum citissime, pervolaverit; qui cum per unum ostium ingrediens, mox per aliud exierit. Ipso quidem tempore, quo intus est, hiemis tempestate non tangitur, sed tamen parvissimo spatio serenitatis ad momentum excurso, mox de hieme in hiemem regrediens, tuis oculis elabitur. Ita haec vita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidve praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus. 'Such,' he said,'O King, seems to me the present life of menon earth, incomparisonwiththattimewhichtousis uncertain, as if when on a winter's night you sit feasting with your ealdormen and thegnsöa single sparrow should flyswiftly intothehall, and coming inat one door, instantly flyoutthrough another.Inthattime inwhichit is indoorsit isindeed nottouched by thefuryofthewinter, and yet, this smallest space of calmness being passed almost in a flash, from winter going into winter again, it is lost to your eyes. Somewhat like this appears the life of man; but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant.'

-Bede known as  'theVenerable'
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis  Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People, translated byB Colgrave,1969), bk.2, ch.13.

Hark! The herald angels sing! Beecham's Pills are just the thing, Two for a woman, one for a child, Peace on earth and mercy mild!

-Beecham, SirThomas
Quoted in Neville Cardus Sir Thomas Beecham (1961). Sir Thomas was heir to the Beecham pharmaceutical company.

   Some truths there are so near and obvious to the mind that a man need only open his eyes to see them. Such I take this important one to be, viz. that all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth, in a word all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, have not any subsistence without a mindöthat their being is to be perceived or known.

-Berkeley, George
  A  Treatise Concerning The Principles Of Human Knowledge, pt.1, section 6.

And is it true? And is it true, This most tremendous tale of all, Seen in a stained-glass window's hue, A Baby in an ox's stall? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me?

-Betjeman, SirJohn
  A Few Late Chrysanthemums,'Christmas'.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Genesis1:1^2.

And God said, Let us create man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepethuponthe earth. So God createdmaninhis own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them,Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Genesis1:26^8.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the L did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the L scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

-Bible (Old Testament)
ORDORDGenesis11:9.

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Genesis18:25.