William Henry Davies Quotes

1871–1940 Wales

William Henry Davies (3 July 1871 – 26 September 1940) was a Welsh poet and writer. He spent many years as a tramp in the United States and United Kingdom but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time.

Wales
Poets

Also known as: Davies, W(illiam) H(enry), Davies, William Henry, W. H. Davies

Random William Henry Davies quote

18 quotes

People are not to be blamed for their doubts, but that they make no effort to arrive at the truth.

The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908)

Cats — by day the most docile of God's creatures, everyone of them in the night enlisting under the devil's banner — took the place by storm after the human voice had ceased.

The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908)

What sweet, what happy days had I,
When dreams made Time Eternity!

This man has talent, that man genius,
And here's the strange and cruel difference:
Talent gives pence and his reward is gold,
Genius gives gold and gets no more than pence.

The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908)

Thou shalt not laugh, thou shalt not romp,
Let's grimly kiss with bated breath;
As quietly and solemnly
As Life when it is kissing Death.

Autumn grows old: he, like some simple one,
In Summer's castaway is strangely clad

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

They sniffed, poor things, for their green fields,
They cried so loud I could not sleep:
For fifty thousand shillings down
I would not sail again with sheep.

What a glorious time of the year is this [Spring]! With the warm sun travelling through serene skies, the air clear and fresh above you, which instils new blood in the body, making one defiantly tramp the earth, kicking the snows aside in the scorn of action.

The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908)

Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks.

From my own kind I only learn
How foolish comfort is

The collier's wife had four tall sons
Brought from the pit's mouth dead,
And crushed from foot to head

Sing out my soul, thy songs of joy;
Such as a happy bird will sing,
Beneath a Rainbow's lovely arch,
In early spring.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

Let us not judge life by its number of breaths, but by the number of times that breath is held, or lost, either under a deep emotion caused by love, or when we stand before an object of interest or beauty.

It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues.

I also love a quiet place
That's green, away from all mankind;
A lonely pool, and let a tree
Sigh with her bosom over me.

Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,
Thou knowest of no strange continent;
Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep
A gentle motion with the deep;
Thou hast not sailed in Indian seas,
Where scent comes forth in every breeze.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: William Henry Davies (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.