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Quotes from The Earthly Paradise — William Morris

1834–1896 England

← All quotes by William Morris

24 quotes

Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Rejoice, lest pleasureless ye die.
Within a little time must ye go by.
Stretch forth your open hands, and while ye live
Take all the gifts that Death and Life may give!

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Unheard-of wealth, unheard-of love is near,
If thou hast heart a little dread to bear.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

A world made to be lost, —
A bitter life 'twixt pain and nothing tost.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Wait, wait, till thou hast heard this tale of mine,
Then shalt thou think them devilish or divine.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

And reached the treasure set apart of old,
To brood above the hidden heaps of gold.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Earth, left silent by the wind of night,
Seems shrunken 'neath the gray unmeasured height.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Beware, beware! for I have many a spell;
If greed of power and gold have led thee on,
Not lightly shall this untold wealth be won.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

And fair with sculptured stories it was wrought,
By lapse of time unto dim ruin brought.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

A sorry merchant am I on this day,
E'en as thou willest so must I obey.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

No roaming now, my wars are passed away,
No long dull days devoid of happiness,
When such a love my yearning heart shall bless.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

To happy folk
All heaviest words no more of meaning bear
Than far-off bells saddening the Summer air.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

The idle singer of an empty day.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Masters, I have to tell a tale of woe,
A tale of folly and of wasted life,
Hope against hope, the bitter dregs of strife,
Ending, where all things end, in death at last.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

There sat a woman, whose wet tresses rolled
On to the floor in waves of gleaming gold,
Cast back from such a form as, erewhile shown
To one poor shepherd, lighted up Troy town.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Slayer of the Winter, art thou here again?
O welcome, thou that bring'st the Summer nigh!
The bitter wind makes not thy victory vain,
Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Late February days; and now, at last,
Might you have thought that Winter's woe was past;
So fair the sky was and so soft the air.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

No pillager or wrecker had been there;
It seemed that time had passed on otherwhere,
Nor laid a finger on this hidden place
Rich with the wealth of some forgotten race.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Stout must thine heart be, nor shall that avail
If thou a wicked soul in thee dost bear;
So once again I bid thee to beware,
Because no base man things like this may see,
And live thereafter long and happily.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Death have we hated, knowing not what it meant;
Life we have loved, through green leaf and through sere,
Though still the less we knew of its intent.

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Attribution

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