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Failing yet gracious,
Slow pacing, soon homing,
A patriarch that strolls
Through the tents of his children,
The sun as he journeys
His round on the lower
Ascents of the blue,
Washes the roofs
And the hillsides with clarity.

— William Ernest Henley Poems (1898)

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Topics

Nature

More quotes by William Ernest Henley

From the winter's gray despair,
From the summer’s golden languor,
Death, the lover of Life,
Frees us for ever.

A Book of Verses (1888)

'Life is worth Living
Through every grain of it,
From the foundations
To the last edge
Of the cornerstone, death.'

Poems (1898)

Night with her train of stars
And her great gift of sleep.

A Book of Verses (1888)

Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

A Book of Verses (1888)

Life — life — life! 'Tis the sole great thing
This side of death,
Heart on heart in the wonder of Spring!

Hawthorn and Lavender (1901)

All William Ernest Henley quotes →

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The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

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Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Ernest Henley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.