Lord Byron on Retirement
1788–1824 England
← All quotes by Lord Byron
19 quotes
The best of prophets of the future is the past.
The "good old times" — all times when old are good —
Are gone.
The Age of Bronze (1823)
Such hath it been — shall be — beneath the sun
The many still must labour for the one!
The Corsair (1814)
Sublime tobacco! which from east to west
Cheers the tar's labor or the Turkman's rest.
The Island (1823)
Years steal
Fire from the mind, as vigor from the limb;
And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.
Age shakes Athena's tower, but spares gray Marathon.
He has grown aged in this world of woe,
In deeds, not years, piercing the depths of life.
So that no wonder waits him.
Gone—glimmering through the dream of things that were.
Oh, for one hour of blind old Dandolo,
Th' octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe!
My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of Love are gone;
The worm — the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone!
Spared and blessed by Time,
Looking tranquility.
Eternity forbids thee to forget.
What is the worst of woes that wait on age?
What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow?
To view each loved one blotted from life's page,
And be alone on earth, as I am now.
When Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet.
Just as old age is creeping on apace,
And clouds come o'er the sunset of our day,
They kindly leave us, though not quite alone,
But in good company—the gout or stone.
Think'st thou existence doth depend on time?
It doth; but actions are our epochs: mine
Have made my days and nights imperishable
Endless, and all alike, as sands on the shore
Innumerable atoms; and one desert
Barren and cold, on which the wild waves break,
But nothing rests, save carcases and wrecks,
Rocks, and the salt-surf weeds of bitterness.
Manfred (1817)
Yet Time, who changes all, had altered him
In soul and aspect as in age; years steal
Fire from the mind as vigour from the limb;
And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.
Out upon Time! it will leave no more
Of the things to come than the things before!
Out upon Time! who forever will leave
But enough of the past for the future to grieve.
But now at thirty years my hair is gray––
(I wonder what it will be like at forty?
I thought of a peruke the other day)
My heart is not much greener; and, in short, I
Have squander'd my whole summer while 'twas May,
And feel no more the spirit to retort; I
Have spent my life, both interest and principal,
And deem not, what I deem'd my soul invincible.
Don Juan (1818)