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William Wordsworth on Mother's Day

1770–1850 England

← All quotes by William Wordsworth

15 quotes

True beauty dwells in deep retreats,
Whose veil is unremoved
Till heart with heart in concord beats,
And the lover is beloved.

A cheerful life is what the Muses love,
A soaring spirit is their prime delight.

O dearer far than light and life are dear.

The unconquerable pang of despised love.

While all the future, for thy purer soul,
With "sober certainties" of love is blest.

Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know.

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)

And you must love him, ere to you
He will seem worthy of your love.

A Poet's Epitaph (1799)

But how can he expect that others should
Build for him, sow for him, and at his call
Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?

Resolution and Independence (1807)

He sang of love, with quiet blending,
Slow to begin, and never ending;
Of serious faith, and inward glee;
That was the song,—the song for me!

Thou unassuming Common-place
Of Nature, with that homely face,
And yet with something of a grace,
Which Love makes for thee!

A Briton even in love should be
A subject, not a slave!

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed (1919)

I travelled among unknown men,
In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee.

For mightier far
Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway
Of magic potent over sun and star,
Is love, though oft to agony distrest,
And though his favourite be feeble woman's breast.

She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love

Lyrical Ballads (1798)

Attribution

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