184 quotes
May coward shame distain his name,
The wretch that dares not die!
McPherson's Farewell (1788)
Go fetch to me a pint o' wine,
An' fill it in a silver tassie.
My Bonnie Mary (1790)
And may you better reck the rede,
Than ever did th' adviser.
Epistle to a Young Friend. Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922)
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine.
The heart benevolent and kind
The most resembles God.
A Winter Night (1787)
And like a passing thought, she fled
In light away.
The Vision (1786)
An' fareweel dear, deluding woman,
The joy of joys!
The halesome parritch, chief o Scotia's food.
The Cotter's Saturday Night (1786)
If there's another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.
Posthumous Pieces (1799)
Life is all a variorum,
We regard not how it goes;
Let them cant about decorum,
Who have characters to lose.
Posthumous Pieces (1799)
To see her is to love her,
And love but her forever;
For nature made her what she is,
And never made anither!
This day, Time winds th' exhausted chain,
To run the twelvemonth's length again.
She is a winsome wee thing,
She is a handsome wee thing,
She is a lo'esome wee thing,
This sweet wee wife o' mine.
The landlady and Tam grew gracious
Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious.
Tam o' Shanter (1790)
'Tis sweeter for thee despairing
Than aught in the world beside,—Jessy!
Some books are lies frae end to end.
I waive the quantum o' the sin,
The hazard of concealing;
But, Och! it hardens a' within,
And petrifies the feeling!
For thus the royal mandate ran,
When first the human race began,
"The social, friendly, honest man,
Whate'er he be,
'Tis he fulfills great Nature's plan,
And none but he!"
Th' expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher through
To meet their dad, wi flichterin noise and glee.
The Cotter's Saturday Night (1786)
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!