330 quotes
But to a higher mark than song can reach,
Rose this pure eloquence.
The Excursion (1814)
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery.
And sings a solitary song
That whistles in the wind.
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
Delivered from the galling yoke of time.
Action is transitory—a step, a blow—
The motion of a muscle—this way or that—
'Tis done; and in the after-vacancy
We wonder at ourselves like men betrayed.
And beauty, for confiding youth,
Those shocks of passion can prepare
That kill the bloom before its time;
And blanch, without the owner's crime,
The most resplendent hair.
The human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants; and he must have a very faint perception of its beauty and dignity who does not know this.
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!
Turns his necessity to glorious gain.
Character of the Happy Warrior (1806)
I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds
With coldness still returning;
Alas! the gratitude of men
Hath oftener left me mourning.
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
Thought and theory must precede all action that moves to salutary purposes. Yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.
And when a damp
Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand
The thing became a trumpet; whence he blew
Soul-animating strains,—alas! too few.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
For why? because the good old rule
Sufficeth them, the simple plan
That they should take, who have the power,
And they should keep, who can.
Memorials of a Tour in Scotland (1803)
Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!
Until a man might travel twelve stout miles,
Or reap an acre of his neighbor's corn.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
We must be free or die, who speak the tongue
That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold
Which Milton held.
When his veering gait
And every motion of his starry train
Seem governed by a strain
Of music, audible to him alone.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)
As high as we have mounted in delight,
In our dejection do we sink as low.
Resolution and Independence (1807)
And you must love him, ere to you
He will seem worthy of your love.
A Poet's Epitaph (1799)
More skillful in self-knowledge, even more pure,
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress.
Character of the Happy Warrior (1806)
There is a Yew-tree, pride of Lorton Vale,
Which to this day stands single, in the midst
Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore.