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William Cullen Bryant
45 quotes
“These are the gardens of the Desert, these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, For which the speech of England has no name— The Prairies.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1833 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Prairies, l. 1 (1833)
“The summer morn is bright and fresh, the birds are darting by, As if they loved to breast the breeze that sweeps the cool clear sky.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1835 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Strange Lady, st. 6 (1835)
“Heed not the night; a summer lodge amid the wild is mine — 'Tis shadowed by the tulip-tree, 'tis mantled by the vine.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When April winds Grew soft, the maple burst into a flush Of scarlet flowers. The tulip tree, high up, Opened in airs of June her multitude Of golden chalices to humming-birds And silken-wing'd insects of the sky.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1839 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Fountain, st. 3 (1839)
“The victory of endurance born.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1839 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Battlefield, st. 8 (1839)
“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again; The eternal years of God are hers; But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, And dies among his worshippers.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1839 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Battlefield, st. 9 (1839)
“These struggling tides of life that seem In wayward, aimless course to tend, Are eddies of the mighty stream That rolls to its appointed end.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Crowded Street, st. 10 (1864)
“And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief, And the year smiles as it draws near its death.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1866 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: October. A Sonnet (1866)
“The rugged trees are mingling Their flowery sprays in love; The ivy climbs the laurel To clasp the boughs above.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wild was the day; the wintry sea Moaned sadly on New England's strand, When first the thoughtful and the free, Our fathers, trod the desert land.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Go forth under the open sky, and list To Nature's teachings.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The hills, Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All that tread, The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: l. 73. Note: The edition of 1821 read, "The innumerable caravan that moves / To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take".
“Here the free spirit of mankind, at length, Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place A limit to the giant's unchained strength, Or curb his swiftness in the forward race!”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Ages, st. xxxiii (1821)
“Thou unrelenting Past! Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain, And fetters, sure and fast, Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1828 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Past, st. 1 (1828)
“The groves were God's first temples.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Forest Hymn, l. 1 (1824)
“Ah, why Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore Only among the crowd and under roofs That our frail hands have raised?”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maidens hearts are always soft: Would that men's were truer!”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1832 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Song: "Dost Thou Idly Ask To Hear", st. 1 (1832)
“All things that are on earth shall wholly pass away, Except the love of God, which shall live and last for aye.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The stormy March has come at last, With winds and clouds and changing skies; I hear the rushing of the blast That through the snowy valley flies.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But ’neath yon crimson tree Lover to listening maid might breathe his flame, Nor mark, within its roseate canopy, Her blush of maiden shame.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The little wind-flower, whose just opened eye Is blue as the spring heaven it gazes at.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Winter Piece, st. 3 (1821)
“Thine eyes are springs in whose serene And silent waters heaven is seen; Their lashes are the herbs that look On their young figures in the brook.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1820 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oh Fairest of the Rural Maids", st. 4 (1820)
“Loveliest of lovely things are they, On earth, that soonest pass away. The rose that lives its little hour Is prized beyond the sculptured flower.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1828 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Scene on the Banks of the Hudson, st. 3 (1828)
“I would make Reason my guide, but she should sometimes sit Patiently by the way-side, while I traced The mazes of the pleasant wilderness Around me. She should be my counsellor, But not my tyrant. For the spirit needs Impulses from a deeper source than hers, And there are motions, in the mind of man, That she must look upon with awe. I bow Reverently to her dictates, but not less Hold to the fair illusions of old time — Illusions that shed brightness over life, And glory over nature.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the blue gentian flower, that, in the breeze, Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: November. A Sonnet (1824)
“They talk of short-lived pleasures—be it so— pain dies as quickly: stern, hard-featured pain Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go. The fiercest agonies have shortest reign; And after dreams of horror, comes again The welcome morning with its rays of peace.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mutation. A Sonnet, l. 1 (1824)
“Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase Are fruits of innocence and blessedness.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Weep not that the world changes—did it keep A stable, changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, sun! that o'er the western mountains now Goest down in glory! ever beautiful And blessed is thy radiance, whether thou Colourest the eastern heaven and night-mist cool, Till the bright day-star vanish, or on high Climbest and streamest thy white splendours from mid-sky.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Walk At Sunset, st. 2 (1821)
“There is a day of sunny rest For every dark and troubled night; And a grief may bid, and evening guest, Bot joy shall come with early light”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1832 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Death of the Flowers, st. 1 (1832)
“The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he bore, And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To a Waterfowl, st. 2 (1815)
“He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1818 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To a Waterfowl, st. 8 (1818)
“Glorious are the woods in their latest gold and crimson, Yet our full-leaved willows are in the freshest green. Such a kindly autumn, so mercifully dealing With the growths of summer, I never yet have seen.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1861 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Third of November, 1861
“O Goddess! sing the wrath of Peleus' son, Achilles; sing the deadly wrath that brought Woes numberless upon the Greeks, and swept To Hades many a valiant soul, and gave Their limbs a prey to dogs and birds of air,— For so had Jove appointed,—from the time When the two chiefs, Atrides, king of men, And great Achilles, parted first as foes.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1870 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Iliad of Homer (1870), book i, line 1
“Tell me, O Muse, of that sagacious man Who, having overthrown the sacred town Of Ilium, wandered far and visited The capitals of many nations, learned The customs of their dwellers, and endured Great suffering on the deep: his life was oft In peril, as he labored to bring back His comrades to their homes. He saved them not, Though earnestly he strove; they perished all, Through their own folly; for they banqueted, Madmen! upon the oxen of the Sun,— The all-o'erlooking Sun, who cut them off From their return. O goddess, virgin-child Of Jove, relate some part of this to me.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1871 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Odyssey of Homer (1871), book i, line 1
“The right to discuss freely and openly, by speech, by the pen, by the press, all political questions, and to examine and animadvert upon all political institutions, is a right so clear and certain, so interwoven with our other liberties, so necessary, in fact to their existence, that without it we must fall at once into depression or anarchy. To say that he who holds unpopular opinions must hold them at the peril of his life, and that, if he expresses them in public, he has only himself to blame if they who disagree with him should rise and put him to death, is to strike at all rights, all liberties, all protection of the laws, and to justify and extenuate all crimes.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) first seen 1829 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Editorial written in remembrance of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, Presbyterian minister, journalist, newspaper editor and abolitionist, who was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois during their attack on his wareho…
“So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan which moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, Of wailing winds and naked woods and meadows brown and sear.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.”
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) said by 1878 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source