William Wordsworth Quotes

411 Sourced Quotes

Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain
That has been, and may be again.

William Wordsworth
One in whom persuasion and belief Had ripened into faith, and faith become A passionate intuition.

William Wordsworth
Fair seedtime had my soul, and I grew up
Fostered alike by beauty and by fear.

William Wordsworth
I am already kindly disposed towards you. My friendship it is not in my power to give: this is a gift which no man can make, it is not in our own power: a sound and healthy friendship is the growth of time and circumstance, it will spring up and thrive like a wildflower when these favour, and when they do not, it is in vain to look for it.

William Wordsworth
Miss not the occasion; by the forelock take that subtle power, the never-halting time.

William Wordsworth
The light that never was, on sea or land,
The consecration, and the poet's dream.

William Wordsworth
There is a luxury in self-dispraise;
And inward self-disparagement affords
To meditative spleen a grateful feast.

William Wordsworth
Come, blessed barrier between day and day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!

William Wordsworth
Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.

William Wordsworth
With gentle hand
Touch—for there is a spirit in the woods.

William Wordsworth
Whom neither shape of danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray.

William Wordsworth
A youth to whom was given
So much of earth—so much of heaven,
And such impetuous blood.

William Wordsworth
I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds
With coldness still returning;
Alas! the gratitude of men
Hath oftener left me mourning.

William Wordsworth
We were brothers all
In honour, as in one community,
Scholars and gentlemen.

William Wordsworth
I, methought, while the sweet breath of heaven Was blowing on my body, felt within A correspondent breeze, that gently moved With quickening virtue, but is now become A tempest, a redundant energy, Vexing its own creation.

William Wordsworth
Look for the stars, you'll say that there are none; / Look up a second time, and, one by one, / You mark them twinkling out with silvery light, / And wonder how they could elude the sight!

William Wordsworth
Knowledge and increase of enduring joy
From the great Nature that exists in works
Of mighty Poets.

William Wordsworth
When men change swords for ledgers, and desert
The student's bower for gold, some fears unnamed
I had, my Country--am I to be blamed?

William Wordsworth
Eyes of some men travel far For the finding of a star; Up and down the heavens they go. Like a sage astronomer.

William Wordsworth
Long as there's a sun that sets, Primroses will have their glory; Long as there are violets, They will have a place in story: There's a flower that shall be mine, 'Tis the little Celandine.

William Wordsworth
Stay, little cheerful Robin! stay, And at my casement sing, Though it should prove a farewell lay And this our parting spring. * * * * * Then, little Bird, this boon confer, Come, and my requiem sing, Nor fail to be the harbinger Of everlasting spring.

William Wordsworth
Prompt to move but firm to wait - knowing things rashly sought are rarely found.

William Wordsworth
Oh, blank confusion! true epitome Of what the mighty City is herself, To thousands upon thousands of her sons, Living amid the same perpetual whirl Of trivial objects, melted and reduced To one identity.

William Wordsworth
But who shall parcel out His intellect by geometric rules, Split like a province into round and square?

William Wordsworth
That to this mountain-daisy's self were known The beauty of its star-shaped shadow, thrown On the smooth surface of this naked stone!

William Wordsworth
Tis not in battles that from youth we train The Governor who must be wise and good, And temper with the sternness of the brain Thoughts motherly, and meek as womanhood.

William Wordsworth
The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink I heard a voice it said Drink, pretty creature, drink'

William Wordsworth
Wisdom and Spirit of the universe! Thou soul, that art the eternity of thought, And giv'st to forms and images a breath And everlasting motion.

William Wordsworth
Tis said, fantastic ocean doth enfold The likeness of whate'er on land is seen.

William Wordsworth
Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;
Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,
And, even with something of a mother's mind,
And no unworthy aim,
The homely nurse doth all she can
To make her foster child, her inmate man,
Forget the glories he hath known
And that imperial palace whence he came.

William Wordsworth