Letitia Elizabeth Landon Quotes

732 Sourced Quotes

I speak of my own feelings—I can judge
Of others but by outward show, and that
Is falser than the actor's studied part.
We dress our words and looks in borrow'd robes:
The mind is as the face—for who goes forth
In public walks without a veil at least?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
It is a humbling thing to human pride to observe that strength of mind does not preserve its possessor from indulging any favourite delusion; but that this very strength gives its own force to the belief.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Fanshawe began to talk of the weather; and his auditor was fairly astonished to find how much he had to say about it. He had all but counted the rain-drops; and he was quite aware of every gleam of sunshine that they had had since the morning.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
The presence of perpetual change
Is ever on the earth;
To-day is only as the soil
That gives to-morrow birth.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Ah ! I appeal to all who have any sensibility — for themselves — how delightful it is to be called in the morning, yet not to obey that call. It combines two of the greatest enjoyments of which our nature is susceptible— obstinacy and indolence.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Imagination is to love what gas is to the balloon—that which raises it from the earth.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
The morning Sun arose —
Still the festal board was spread —
Still hosts and guests were round ;
But hosts and guests were dead !

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
But music is a mystery, and viewless
Even when present, and is less man's act,
And less within his order; for the hand
That can call forth the tones, yet cannot tell
Whither they go, or if they live or die,
When floated once beyond his feeble ear;

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
… when was a woman ever witty without being bitter?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Leaves grow green to fall,
Flowers grow fair to fade,
Fruits grow ripe to rot —
All but for passing made.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
For wishes are effectual but by will,
And that too much is impotent and void
In frail humanity; and time steals by
Sinful and wavering, and unredeem'd.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Oh! why should woman ever love,
Trusting to one false star above;
And fling her little chance away
Of sunshine for its treacherous ray.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
It must be worth a life of toil and care,—
Worth those dark chains the wearied one must bear
Who toils up fortune's steep,—all that can wring
The worn-out bosom with lone-suffering,—
Worth restlessness, oppression, goading fears,
And long-deferred hopes of many years,—
To reach again that little quiet spot,
So well loved once, and never quite forgot;—
To trace again the steps of infancy,
And catch their freshness from their memory!

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
It is strange, though true, that the happiest part of our life is the shortest in detail. We dwell on the tempest that wrecked, the flood that overwhelmed — but we pass over in silence the numerous days we have spent in summer and sunshine.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Where, oh, where's the chain to fling,
One that will chain Cupid's wing—
One that will have longer power
Than the April sun or shower?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Romantic Switzerland! thy scenes are traced
With characters of strange wild loveliness,
Beauty and desolation, side by side;
Here lofty rocks uprise, where nature seems
To dwell alone in silent majesty;
Rob'd by the snow, her stately palace fram'd
Of the white hills; towering in all their pride,
The frost's gigantic mounds are lost in clouds,
Like to vast castles rear'd in middle air.
The ice has sculptur'd too strange imagery—
Obelisks, columns, spires, fantastic piles;
Some like the polish'd marble, others clear
As the rock crystal, others sparkling with
The hues that melt along the sunborn bow.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Life is a torrid day,
Parched with the dust and sun ;
And death's the calm cool night,
When the weary day is done.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Pictures, bright pictures, oh ! they are to me
A world for thought to revel in. I love
To give a history to every face, to think —
As I thought with the painter — as I knew
What his high communing had been.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Mother:
Children and sorrow come together. First
Are sleepless nights, and cradle watchings — next
Your age is vexed with maiden fantasies,
And your girl's lover costeth you more care
Than ever did your own. It is not well !

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Perhaps it is a benevolent provision of Nature that we remember more what touches than what pains us.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Down swept the gathered waters over rocks
Which broke at times the column's foaming line ;
Darkening amid the snow-white froth, it swept
Like an all conquering army, and an arch
Of sparkling hues that in the sunbeams played
Seemed to unite it with the sky which hung
Above all calmness and repose :

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Deceit is this world's passport: who would dare,
However pure the breast, to lay it bare?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Who does not know the restlessness of an anticipated arrival?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
How beautiful, how buoyant, and glad is morning! The first sunshine on the leaves: the first wind, laden with the first breath of the flowers-that deep sigh with which they seem to waken from sleep; the first dew, untouched even by the light foot of the early hare; the first chirping of the rousing birds, as if eager to begin song and flight; all is redolent of the strength given by rest, and the joy of conscious life.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon
'Tis not for Spring to think on all
The sear and waste of Autumn's fall: —

Letitia Elizabeth Landon