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George William Russell

131 quotes

“Far up the dim twilight fluttered Moth-wings of vapour and flame: The lights danced over the mountains, Star after star they came. The lights grew thicker unheeded, For silent and still were we; Our hearts were drunk with a beauty Our eyes could never see.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Unknown God" (1913)
“A young man who had been troubling society with impalpable doctrines of a new civilization which he called "the Kingdom of Heaven" had been put out of the way; and I can imagine that believer in material power murmuring as he went homeward, "it will all blow over now." Yes. The wind from the Kingdom of Heaven has blown over the world, and shall blow for centuries yet.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Economics of Ireland and the Policy of the British Government (1921)
“After the spiritual powers, there is no thing in the world more unconquerable than the spirit of nationality. … The spirit of nationality in Ireland will persist even though the mightiest of material powers be its neighbor.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) first seen 1921 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Economics of Ireland and the Policy of the British Government (1921)
“In ancient shadows and twilights Where childhood had strayed, The world’s great sorrows were born And its heroes were made. In the lost boyhood of Judas Christ was betrayed.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Germinal" in Vale and Other Poems (1931)
“Let thy young wanderer dream on: Call him not home. A door opens, a breath a voice From the ancient room, Speaks to him now. Be it dark or bright He is knit with his doom.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Germinal" in Vale and Other Poems (1931)
“We may fight against what is wrong, but if we allow ourselves to hate, that is to insure our spiritual defeat and our likeness to what we hate.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Living Torch, A.E. (1937) by Monk Gibbon
“Seek on earth what you have found in heaven.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Unpractised Heart (1942) by Leonard Alfred George Strong, p. 147
“I remember once quarreling with Yeats who was walking around the room with a sword in one hand muttering spells to ward off evil spirits, and I noticed that every time he passed a plate of plums he put down his unoccupied hand and took a plum and I said, "Yeats, you cannot evoke great spirits and eat plums at the same time.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Across My Path (1952) by Pelham Edgar, p. 148
“When steam first began to pump and wheels go round at so many revolutions per minute, what are called business habits were intended to make the life of man run in harmony with the steam engine, and his movement rival the train in punctuality.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The School as a Home for the Mind : Creating Mindful Curriculum, Instruction, and Dialogue (2007) by Arthur L. Costa, p. 91
“If the Gods would only inspire me a little more vigorously I would write no end, but as it is I have to sweat over my work, such as it is, and often groan that I never have a chance to do it properly.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I thought, beloved, to have brought to you A gift of quietness and ease and peace, Cooling your brow as with the mystic dew Dropping from twilight trees. Homeward I go not yet; the darkness grows; Not mine the voice to still with peace divine: From the first fount the stream of quiet flows Through other hearts than mine. Yet of my night I give to you the stars, And of my sorrow here the sweetest gains, And out of hell, beyond its iron bars, My scorn of all its pains.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For sure the enchanted waters pour through every wind that blows. I think when night towers up aloft and shakes the trembling dew How every high and lonely thought that thrills my being through Is but a ruddy berry dropped down through the purple air, And from the magic tree of life the fruit falls everywhere.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must pass like smoke or live within the spirit's fire; For we can no more than smoke unto the flame return If our thought has changed to dream, our will unto desire, As smoke we vanish though the fire may burn.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the fire of love we live, or pass by many ways, By unnumbered ways of dream to death.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now the quietude of earth Nestles deep my heart within; Friendships new and strange have birth Since I left the city's din.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here the ancient mystery Holds its hands out day by day, Takes a chair and croons with me By my cabin built of clay. When the dusky shadow flits, By the chimney nook I see Where the old enchanter sits, Smiles, and waves, and beckons me.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Its edges foamed with amethyst and rose, Withers once more the old blue flower of day: There where the ether like a diamond glows Its petals fade away.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great deep thrills for through it everywhere The breath of beauty blows.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I saw how all the trembling ages past, Moulded to her by deep and deeper breath, Neared to the hour when Beauty breathes her last And knows herself in death.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This mood hath known all beauty for it sees O'erwhelmed majesties In these pale forms, and kingly crowns of gold On brows no longer bold, And through the shadowy terrors of their hell The love for which they fell, And how desire which cast them in the deep Called God too from his sleep.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whatever time thy golden eyelids ope They travel to a hope; Not only backward from these low degrees To starry dynasties, But, looking far where now the silence owns And rules from empty thrones, Thou seest the enchanted halls of heaven burn For joy at our return.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thy tender kiss hath memory we are kings For all our wanderings. Thy shining eyes already see the after In hidden light and laughter.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A shaft of fire that falls like dew, And melts and maddens all my blood, From out thy spirit flashes through The burning glass of womanhood.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I must endure the torturing ray, And, with all beauty, all desire. Ah, time-long must the effort be, And far the way that I must go To bring my spirit unto thee, Behind the glass, within the glow.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where we sat at dawn together, while the star-rich heavens shifted, We were weaving dreams in silence, suddenly the veil was lifted. By a hand of fire awakened, in a moment caught and led Upward to the wondrous vision: through the star-mists overhead Flare and flaunt the monstrous highlands; on the sapphire coast of night Fall the ghostly froth and fringes of the ocean of the light.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We and it and all together flashing through the starry spaces In a tempest dream of beauty lighting up the place of places. Half our eyes behold the glory: half within the spirit's glow Echoes of the noiseless revels and the will of beauty go. By a hand of fire uplifted—to her star-strewn palace brought, To the mystic heart of beauty and the secret of her thought:”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here the wild will woke within her lighting up her flying dreams, Round and round the planets whirling break in woods and flowers and streams, And the winds are shaken from them as the leaves from off the rose, And the feet of earth go dancing in the way that beauty goes, And the souls of earth are kindled by the incense of her breath As her light alternate lures them through the gates of birth and death.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O'er the fields of space together following her flying traces, In a radiant tumult thronging, suns and stars and myriad races Mount the spirit spires of beauty, reaching onward to the day When the Shepherd of the Ages draws his misty hordes away Through the glimmering deeps to silence, and within the awful fold Life and joy and love forever vanish as a tale is told, Lost within the mother's being. So the vision flamed and fled, And before the glory fallen every other dream lay dead.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am the sunlight in the heart, the silver moonglow in the mind; My laughter runs and ripples through the wavy tresses of the wind. I am the fire upon the hills, the dancing flame that leads afar Each burning-hearted wanderer, and I the dear and homeward star.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They knew me from the dawn of time: if Hermes beats his rainbow wings, If Angus shakes his locks of light, or golden-haired Apollo sings, It matters not the name, the land; my joy in all the gods abides: Even in the cricket in the grass some dimness of me smiles and hides. For joy of me the day star glows, and in delight and wild desire The peacock twilight rays aloft its plumes and blooms of shadowy fire, Where in the vastness too I burn through summer nights and ages long, And with the fiery footed Watchers shake in myriad dance and song.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not unremembering we pass our exile from the starry ways: One timeless hour in time we caught from the long night of endless days.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For beauty called to beauty and there thronged at the enchanter's will The vanished hours of love that burn within the Ever-living still.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As to her worshippers she came descending from her glowing skies So Aphrodite I have seen with shining eyes look through your eyes: One gleam of the ancestral face which lighted up the dawn for me: One fiery visitation of the love the gods desire in thee!”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The blue dusk ran between the streets; my love was winged within my mind; It left to-day and yesterday and thrice a thousand years behind. To-day was past and dead for me for from to-day my feet had run Through thrice a thousand years to walk the ways of ancient Babylon.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The tower of heaven turns darker blue; a starry sparkle now begins; The mystery and magnificence, the myriad beauty and the sins Come back to me.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh real as in dream all this; and then a hand on mine is laid: The wave of phantom time withdraws; and that young Babylonian maid, One drop of beauty left behind from all the flowing of that tide, Is looking with the self-same eyes, and here in Ireland by my side. Oh, light our life in Babylon, but Babylon has taken wings, While we are in the calm and proud procession of eternal things.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the morn a spirit gay Breathes within my heart a rhyme, Tis but hide and seek we play In and out the courts of Time.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where the ring of twilight gleams Round the sanctuary wrought, Whispers haunt me — in my dreams We are one yet know it not. Some for beauty follow long Flying traces; some there be Seek thee only for a song: I to lose myself in thee.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now when the spirit in us wakes and broods, Filled with home yearnings, drowsily it flings From its deep heart high dreams and mystic moods, Mixed with the memory of the loved earth things; Clothing the vast with a familiar face; Reaching its right hand forth to greet the starry race.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nearer to Thee, not by delusion led, Though there no house fires burn nor bright eyes gaze, We rise, but by the symbol charioted, Through loved things rising up to Love's own ways By these the soul unto the vast has wings And sets the seal celestial on all mortal things.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What of all the will to do? It has vanished long ago, For a dream-shaft pierced it through From the Unknown Archer's bow.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only in the self we grope To the misty end of time: Truth has put an end to hope. What of all the heart to love? Sadder than for will or soul, No light lured it on above; Love has found itself the whole.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Twilight, a timid fawn, went glimmering by, And night, the dark blue hunter, followed fast: Ceaseless pursuit and flight were in the sky, But the long chase had ceased for us at last.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The twilight fleeted away in pearl on the stream, And night, like a diamond dome, stood still in our dream.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We loved in infinite spaces, forgetting here The breasts that were lit with life and the lips so near; Till the wizard willows waved in the wind and drew Me away from the fulness of love and down to you.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our love was so vast that it filled the heavens up: But the soft white form I held was an empty cup, When the willows called me back to earth with their sigh, And we moved as shades through the deep that was you and I.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hush, not a whisper! Let your heart alone go dreaming. Dream unto dream may pass: deep in the heart alone Murmurs the Mighty One his solemn undertone.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Canst thou not see adown the silver cloudland streaming Rivers of faery light, dewdrop on dewdrop falling, Starfire of silver flames, lighting the dark beneath? And what enraptured hosts burn on the dusky heath! Come thou away with them, for Heaven to Earth is calling.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Drink: the immortal waters quench the spirit's longing. Art thou not now, bright one, all sorrow past, in elation, Made young with joy, grown brother-hearted with the vast, Whither thy spirit wending flits the dim stars past Unto the Light of Lights in burning adoration.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Image of beauty, when I gaze on thee, Trembling I waken to a mystery, How through one door we go to life or death By spirit kindled or the sensual breath.”
George William Russell (1867–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source