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Robert Burns
173 quotes
“We twa hae run about the braes, And pu'd the gowans fine.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Auld Lang Syne, chorus (1788)
“Dweller in yon dungeon dark, Hangman of creation, mark! Who in widow weeds appears, Laden with unhonoured years, Noosing with care a bursting purse, Baited with many a deadly curse?”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ode on Mrs. Oswald (1788)
“May coward shame distain his name, The wretch that dares not die!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: McPherson's Farewell (1788)
“A man may drink and no be drunk; A man may fight and no be slain; A man may kiss a bonnie lass, And aye be welcome back again.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1788 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: There was a Lass (1788)
“Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes, Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise. My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sweet Afton, st. 1 (1789)
“To make a happy fireside clime To weans and wife,— That is the true pathos and sublime Of human life.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1789 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epistle to Dr. Blacklock, st. 9 (1789)
“This day, Time winds th' exhausted chain, To run the twelvemonth's length again.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: New Year's Day, st. 1 (1790)
“The voice of Nature loudly cries, And many a message from the skies, That something in us never dies.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: New Year's Day, st. 3 (1790)
“Ay waukin, Oh, Waukin still and weary: Sleep I can get nane, For thinking on my Dearie.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ay Waukin O, st. 1 (1790)
“John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your bonny brow was brent.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Anderson my Jo (1790)
“Go fetch to me a pint o' wine, An' fill it in a silver tassie.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Bonnie Mary (1790)
“The minister kiss'd the fiddler's wife, An' could na preach for thinkin' o't.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Love She's but a Lassie yet (1790)
“It is the moon, I ken her horn, That's blinkin in the lift sae hie; She shines sae bright to wyle us hame, But by my sooth she'll wait a wee!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut (1790)
“Some have meat and cannot eat, Some cannot eat that want it: But we have meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Kirkudbright Grace (1790)
“Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit.<!--”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Selkirk Grace (1793)
“When Nature her great masterpiece designed, And framed her last, best work, the human mind, Her eye intent on all the wondrous plan, She formed of various stuff the various Man.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1791 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Robert Graham, st. 1 (1791)
“Suspense is worse than disappointment.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1791 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Thomas Sloan, (1 September 1791)
“While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things, The fate of empires and the fall of kings; While quacks of State must each produce his plan, And even children lisp the Rights of Man; Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention, The Rights of Woman merit some attention.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Rights of Woman, st. 1 (1792)
“She is a winsome wee thing, She is a handsome wee thing, She is a lo'esome wee thing, This sweet wee wife o' mine.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My Wife's a Winsome Wee Thing, chorus (1792)
“The golden Hours on angel wings Flew o'er me and my Dearie; For dear to me as light and life Was my sweet Highland Mary.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Highland Mary, st. 2 (1792)
“But, oh! fell death's untimely frost, That nipt my flower sae early.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Highland Mary, st. 3 (1792)
“There's threesome reels, there's foursome reels, There's hornpipes and strathspeys, man, But the ae best dance ere came to the Land Was, the deil's awa wi' the Exciseman.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Deil's awa wi' the Exciseman, st. 5 (1792)
“What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie, What can a young lassie do wi' an auld man?”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1792 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What can a Young Lassie do wi' an Auld Man (1792)
“O whistle, an' I'll come to you, my lad: O whistle, an' I'll come to you, my lad: Tho' father and mither should baith gae mad, O whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad (1793)
“O whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad: Tho' father and mither and a' should gae mad.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad, chorus (1793)
“If there's a hole in a' your coats, I rede you tent it; A chield's aman you takin' notes, And faith he'll prent it.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Late Captain Grose's Peregrinations thro' Scotland, st. 1 (1793)
“O Mary, at thy window be! It is the wished, the trysted hour.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mary Morison, st. 1 (1793)
“I've seen sae mony changefu' years, On earth I am a stranger grown: I wander in the ways of men, Alike unknowing and unknown.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn (1793)
“The wan moon sets behind the white wave, And time is setting with me, Oh.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1793 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Open the door to me, Oh (1793)
“Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome to your gory bed Or to Victorie! Now's the day, and now's the hour; See the front o' battle lour! See approach proud Edward's power— Chains and slaverie!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1794 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Scots Wha Hae, sts. 1, 2 (1794)
“Lay the proud usurpers low! Tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty's in every blow— Let us do or die!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1794 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Scots Wha Hae, st. 5 (1794)
“The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1795 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Man's A Man For A' That, st. 1 (1795)
“Drumossie moor — Drumossie day — A waefu' day it was to me! For there I lost my father dear, My father dear, and brethren three.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Lovely Lass of Inverness, st. 1 (1796)
“Contented wi' little, and cantie wi' mair, Whene'er I forgather wi' Sorrow and Care, I gie them a skelp, as they're creeping alang, Wi' a cog o' gude swats and an auld Scottish sang.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Contented wi' Little, st. 1 (1796)
“'Tis sweeter for thee despairing Than aught in the world beside,—Jessy!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jessy, st. 2 (1796)
“O, saw ye bonnie Leslie As she gaed o’er the border? She’s gane, like Alexander, To spread her conquests farther. To see her is to love her, And love but her forever; For nature made her what she is, And ne’er made sic anither!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bonnie Lesley, sts. 1–2 (1798)
“O, gie me the lass that has acres o' charms, O, gie me the lass wi' the weel-stockit farms.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hey for a Lass wi' a Tocher (1799)
“Come, Firm Resolve, take thou the van, Thou stalk o' carl-hemp in man! And let us mind, faint heart ne'er wan A lady fair; Wha does the utmost that he can, Will whyles do mair.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Dr. Blacklock (1800)
“Good Lord, what is man! for as simple he looks, Do but try to develop his hooks and his crooks, With his depths and his shallows, his good and his evil, All in all he's a problem must puzzle the devil.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sketch inscribed to Charles James Fox (1800)
“Their sighan', cantan', grace-proud faces, Their three-mile prayers, and half-mile graces.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Rev. John M'Math (1808)
“There's death in the cup-so beware!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inscription on a Goblet (pub. 1834)
“Don't let the awkward squad fire over me.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in A. Cunningham, The Works of Robert Burns; with his Life (1834) vol. 1, p. 344
“We labour soon, we labour late, To feed the titled knave, man; And a' the comfort we're to get, Is that ayont the grave, man.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tree of Liberty (1838)
“What's a' your jargon o' your schools, Your Latin names for horns and stools? If honest Nature made you fools What sairs your grammars? Ye'd better taen up spades and shools Or knappin hammers. Gie' me ae spark o' Nature's fire! That's a' the learning I desire: Then, tho' I drudge thro' dub and mire At plough or cart, My muse, though homely in attire, May touch the heart.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in The Athenæum, no. 756 (23 April 1842) p. 361, col. 2. Last two lines quoted as epigraph in Eliza Cook, Poems, new ed. (London: Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, 1860) front matter
“I would not die like Socrates, For all the fuss of Plato; Nor would I with Leonidas, Nor yet would I with Cato. The zealots of the church or state Shall ne'er my mortal foes be, But let me have bold Zimri's fate Within the arms of Cozbi!”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Th' expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher through To meet their dad, wi flichterin noise and glee.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale.”
Robert Burns (1759–1796) said by 1796 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source