British Poet Quotes

I once knew a man out of courtesy help a lame dog over a stile, and he for requital bit his fingers.

The starres, bright cent'nels of the skies.

I saw the spires of Oxford
As I was passing by,
The grey spires of Oxford
Against a pearl-grey sky;
My heart was with the Oxford men
Who went abroad to die.

The name is history.
The thick Miljacka flows
Under its bridges through a canyon's breadth
Fretted with minarets and plump with domes,
Cupped in its mountains, caught on a drawn breath.

American diplomacy. It's like watching somebody trying to do joinery with a chainsaw.

Under this stone, Reader, survey
Dead Sir John Vanbrugh's house of clay.
Lie heavy on him, Earth! for he
Laid many heavy loads on thee!

A fine morning's killing, ay! All their necks wrung - all dead birds! Once they could fly - fly and swim! Fly and swim! All dead now - and sold cheap in the open market!

Because I longed to comprehend the infinite I drew a line between the known and unknown.

LUCIFER: Only the chemistry of love can make Two atoms one.

Alfred Austin
Alfred Austin
The works of nature will bear a thousand views and reviews: the more frequently and narrowly we look into them, the more occasion we shall have to admire their beauty.

Francis Atterbury
Francis Atterbury
In the mind all things are written in pictures - there is no alphabetical combination of letters and words; all things are pictures and symbols.

Richard Jefferies
Richard Jefferies
It is always so, every pleasure comes exactly half an hour too late - Life! Life!

We are no more content to plod along the beaten paths - and so marriage must go the way of God.

Amy Levy
Amy Levy
This is the divine moment when we can hold the fairest blossom of spring in one hand and the sweetest flowers of early summer in the other.

There are some secrets which scarcely admit of being disclosed even to ourselves.

God send us power to make decision
With muscular, clean, fierce precision.
In life and song...

Fear, guilt, despair, and moon-struck phrensy rush
On voluntary death: the wise and brave,
When the fierce storms of fortune round 'em roar,
Combat the billows with redoubled force:
Then, if they perish ere the port is gain'd,
They sink with decent pride; and from the deep
Honour retrieves them, bright as rising stars.

It's easy to watch someone else's life crash and burn, harder to watch your own accident up close.

I liked having some time to myself. Our family was such a close one, you could get smothered. Of course, we didn't always agree with one another. Sometimes I quarreled with my brother and sisters, but I couldn't remember hating anyone for more than five minutes.

But I didn't dare. That has always been my trouble. I've never dared enough.

Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo
Kiss me with rain on your eyelashes, come on, let us sway together, under the trees, and to hell with thunder.

Edwin Morgan (poet)
Edwin Morgan (poet)
Over-excitement and boredom are states of mind which I equally shun.

It is not, in fact, cookery books that we need half so much as cooks really trained to a knowledge of their duties.

Her hearing was keener than his, and she heard silences he was unaware of.

Some day your head won't find my lap so easily. Trust is a habit you'll soon break.

Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker