184 quotes
Then horn for horn they stretch and strive;
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive.
To liken them to your auld-warld squad,
I must needs say comparisons are odd.
God knows, I'm no the thing I should be,
Nor am I even the thing I could be.
Posthumous Pieces (1799)
An' there began a lang digression
About the lords o' the creation.
A man may drink and no be drunk;
A man may fight and no be slain;
A man may kiss a bonnie lass,
And aye be welcome back again.
There was a Lass (1788)
And there began a lang digression
About the lords o' the creation.
The Twa Dogs (1786)
There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In every hour that passes, O:
What signifies the life o' man,
An 'twerna for the lasses, O.
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae farewell, alas, forever!
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787)
Facts are cheels that winna ding,
An' downa be disputed.
Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil;
Wi' usquabae, we'll face the devil!
Tam o' Shanter (1790)
There's death in the cup-so beware!
Freedom and Whisky gang thegither.
When Nature her great masterpiece designed,
And framed her last, best work, the human mind,
Her eye intent on all the wondrous plan,
She formed of various stuff the various Man.
And let us mind, faint heart ne'er wan
A lady fair.
Wha does the utmost that he can
Will whyles do mair.
Perhaps Dundee's wild-warbling measures rise,
Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name.
The Cotter's Saturday Night (1786)
Were such the wife had fallen to my part,
I'd break her spirit, or I'd break her heart.
The Henpecked Husband (1788)
John Anderson my jo, John,
When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonny brow was brent.
John Anderson my Jo (1790)
If there's a hole in a' your coats,
I rede you tent it;
A chield's aman you takin' notes,
And faith he'll prent it.
Tam tint his reason a' thegither,
And roars out — "Weel done, Cutty-sark!"
Tam o' Shanter (1790)
On ev'ry hand it will allowed be,
He's just—nae better than he should be.