160 quotes
The minds of some of our statesmen, like the pupil of the human eye, contract themselves the more, the stronger light there is shed upon them.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
Oh for a tongue to curse the slave
Whose treason, like a deadly blight,
Comes o'er the councils of the brave,
And blasts them in their hour of might!
Lalla Rookh (1817)
Those eyes, whose light seem'd rather given
To be ador'd than to adore—
Such eyes as may have looked from heaven,
But ne'er were raised to it before!
To weave a garland for the rose,
And think thus crown'd 'twould lovelier be,
Were far less vain than to suppose
That silks and gems add grace to thee.
Not more the rose, the queen of flowers,
Outblushes all the bloom of bower,
Than she unrivall'd grace discloses;
The sweetest rose, where all are roses.
'T is sweet to think that where'er we rove
We are sure to find something blissful and dear;
And that when we 're far from the lips we love,
We've but to make love to the lips we are near.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
O, the Shamrock, the green, immortal Shamrock!
Chosen leaf
Of Bard and Chief,
Old Erin's native Shamrock.
There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told,
When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie,
With heart never changing, and brow never cold,
Love on thro' all ills, and love on till they die.
Lalla Rookh (1817)
Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye,
But turn to ashes on the lips.
Lalla Rookh (1817)
One morn a Peri at the gate
Of Eden stood disconsolate.
Lalla Rookh (1817)
To Greece we give our shining blades.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
Then awake!—the heavens look bright, my dear!
'Tis never too late for delight, my dear!
And the best of all ways
To lengthen our days
Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear!
Even here, in this region of wonders, I find
That light-footed Fancy leaves Truth far behind,
Or at least, like Hippomenes, turns her astray
By the golden illusions he flings in her way.
Rhymes on the Road (1823)
Farewell, farewell to thee, Araby's daughter!
Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea.
Lalla Rookh (1817)
There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream,
And the nightingale sings round it all the day long;
In the time of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream,
To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song.
Lalla Rookh (1817)
But soon, the prospect clearing,
By cloudless starlight on he treads
And thinks no lamp so cheering
As that light which Heaven sheds.
Vain were the man, and false as vain,
Who said, were he ordained to run
His long career of life again
He would do all that he had done.
How sweet the answer Echo makes
To music at night,
When, roused by lute or horn, she wakes,
And far away, o'er lawns and lakes,
Goes answering light.
Beholding heaven, and feeling hell.
Lalla Rookh (1817)
A boat at midnight sent alone
To drift upon the moonless sea,
A lute, whose leading chord is gone,
A wounded bird, that hath but one
Imperfect wing to soar upon,
Are like what I am, without thee.