Famous quotes
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“To stagnate in the sun, goldenly, like an obscure lake surrounded by flowers.”
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Factless Autobiography, Richard Zenith Edition, Lisbon, 2006, p. 70
“Violets! — deep-blue violets! April's loveliest coronets! There are no flowers grow in the vale, Kiss'd by the dew, wooed by the gale, — None by the dew of the twilight wet, So sweet as the deep-blue violet!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, softest is the cheek's love-ray When seen by moonlight hours Other roses seek the day, But blushes are night flowers.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1821 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: When Should Lover’s Breathe Their Vows from The London Literary Gazette (24th November 1821)
“But o'er CYRENE'S cheek the rose, Like moon-touch'd water, ebbs and flows; And eyes that droop like Summer flowers Told they could change with shine and showers.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm weary, I'm weary,—this cold world of ours; I will go dwell afar, with fairies and flowers. . . . . I'm weary, I'm weary,—I'm off with the wind: Can I find a worse fate than the one left behind?”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh never another dream can be Like that early dream of ours, When the fairy Hope lay down to sleep, Like a child, among the flowers.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He took his lute—his voice was low, So lapsing waters softly flow Amid the drooping flowers around, As if they turned their sighs to sound. Ah, magic! of a voice that seems To haunt the soul with hopes and dreams;”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But there are natural temples still for those Eternal though dethroned Deities, Where from green altars flowers send up their incense: This fount is one of them. —”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Thessalian Fountain from The London Literary Gazette (24th January 1824) Fragments, 4th Series
“It shock'd me first to see the sun Shine gladly o'er thy tomb; To see the wild flowers o'er it run In such luxuriant bloom. Now I feel glad that they should keep A bright sweet watch above thy sleep.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1831 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Forgotten One from The Keepsake, 1831 [Probably refers to Letitia's little sister, Elizabeth]
“I believe the love of flowers to be as inherent in the disposition as any other inclination.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These are thy bridal flowers I am now wreathing; This is thy marriage hymn I am now breathing.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1822 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (12th January 1822) Sketch the first ("There are dark yew-trees gathered round, beneath")
“Wouldst thou know what life should be? Were it mine but to decree What its path should be for Thee ? Look upon those sister powers, Chained, but only chained with flowers, — That bright group of rose-winged Hours”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1823 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (3rd May 1823) Poetical Catalogue of Paintings - The Hours, by Howard.
“There grew ten thousand flowers, on whose leaves Shone every hue that ever yet hath shone In a king's diadem of Indian gems, Or in the tints an autumn sunset throws O'er the rich glaciers in the rainbow arch Of the departing shower ;”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a flower, a purple flower Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower, O'er which Love has breathed a power and spell The truth of whispering hope to tell. (According to the Lady's Book of Flowers, 1842 , this is the centaury)”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She spoke, they were but a few hurried words — Of the sweet flowers around, the heat, the night — Yet were they such as the blest heart records For many an after-moment's long delight ; They touch'd upon his spirit's inmost chords ; Though broken was the sense, the accents light, Yet sweeter was to him that tremulous tone Than all that eloquence were proud to own.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1826 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (26th August 1826) Metrical Fragments No. II. Tasso’s last interview with the Princess Leonora. (under the pen name Iole)
“Leaves grow green to fall, Flowers grow fair to fade, Fruits grow ripe to rot — All but for passing made.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1826 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14th October 1826) Changes
“Time past on as lightly as he always steps over flowers, Brussels carpets, marble terraces, green turfs, or whatever simile may best express a path without an impediment.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 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 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
“The flowers anew returning seasons bring! But beauty faded has no second spring.”
Ambrose Philips (1674–1749) first seen 1709 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lobbing, The First Pastoral (1709), line 55.
“I got me flowers to strew Thy way, I got me boughs off many a tree: But Thou wast up by break of day, And brought'st Thy sweets along with Thee.”
George Herbert (1593–1633) said by 1633 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped. Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion. It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom. Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers. Real gods require blood.”
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have looked upon all that the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and the flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me. But I do not think my life will be long. As my uncle went, as poor Johansen went, so I shall go. I know too much, and the cult still lives.”
H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot Fighting in the captain's tower While calypso singers laugh at them And fishermen hold flowers...”
“Nothing is permanent. Tomorrow the caravan moves on. The wheels turn. The flowers bloom and die. The good we do in bad times is a seed planted for others to harvest. Evil is a dark hole in creation, where good may once have flourished, where it may take root again one starlit night, when the wounded world murmurs in a healing sleep.”
Morris West (1916–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What wondrous life in this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head; The luscious clusters of the vine Upon my mouth do crush their wine; The nectarine and curious peach Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How could such sweet and wholesome hours Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers!”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For he did, with his utmost skill, Ambition weed, but conscience till: Conscience, that heaven-nursèd plant, Which most our earthy gardens want. A prickling leaf it bears, and such As that which shrinks at every touch; But flowers eternal, and divine, That in the crowns of saints do shine.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here's ivy! — take them, as I used to do Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine. Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true, And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) said by 1861 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It makes no difference abroad, The seasons fit the same, The mornings blossom into noons, And split their pods of flame.Wild-flowers kindle in the woods, The brooks brag all the day; No blackbird bates his jargoning For passing Calvary.Auto-da-fé and judgment Are nothing to the bee; His separation from his rose To him seems misery.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I see weeds and flowers. I think of it in those terms, and we have to discriminate and distinguish between the two, to recognize and encourage those human qualities and attributes that are the more positive.”
Jonas Salk (1914–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.”
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Knowledge can in part be set aside, and one can then go further in order to collect new; the natural scientist can set aside insects and flowers and then go further, but if the existing person sets aside the decision in existence, it is eo ipso lost, and he is changed.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) first seen 1845 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Papers VI B 66, 1845
“Surfing the Web” (as dubious a metaphor as “the information highway”) is, as a friend of mine has it, “like reading magazines with the pages stuck together.” My wife shakes her head in dismay as I patiently await the downloading of some Japanese Beatles fan's personal catalog of bootlegs. “But it’s from Japan!” She isn't moved. She goes out to enjoy the flowers in her garden.”
William Gibson (born 1948) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Net Is a Waste of Time," The New York Times Magazine, July 14, 1996.
“One cannot grow fine flowers in a thin soil.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Women and Writing (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), p. 54. Also in
“Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They never pulled the curtains till it was too dark to see, nor shut the windows till it was too cold. Why shut out the day before it was over? The flowers were still bright; the birds chirped. You could see more in the evening often when nothing interrupted, when there was no fish to order, no telephone to answer.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The flowers flashed before they faded. She watched them flash.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“on tolerance of gays: "You always have to remember - no matter what you're told - that God loves all the flowers, even the wild ones that grow on the side of the highway.”
Cyndi Lauper (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It had been, when I read it, only a vaguely pregnant piece of nonsense. Now it was all as clear as day, as evident as Euclid. Of course the Dharma-Body of the Buddha was the hedge at the bottom of the garden. At the same time, and no less obviously, it was these flowers, it was anything that I—or rather the blessed Not-I, released for a moment from my throttling embrace—cared to look at.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of folks, they got a little bit of shine to them. They don't even know it. But they always seem to show up with flowers when their wives are feelin blue with the monthlies, they do good on school tests they don't even study for, they got a good idea how people are feelin as soon as they walk into a room.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beautiful things may be admired, if not loved," asserted the Tin Man. "Flowers are beautiful, for instance, but we are not inclined to marry them. Duty, on the contrary, is a bugle call to action, whether you are inclined to act, or not. In this case, I obey the bugle call of duty.”
L. Frank Baum (1856–1919) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918), Ch. 2 : The Heart of the Tin Woodman
“Winter is gone, and spring is over. The cuckoo-flowers grow mauver and mauver”
Alfred Austin (1835–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Louis Untermeyer 8 October 1927 "A London Letter" The Saturday Review Vol 4 Iss 11 p.178
“Goodness is not in the backyard of the individual nor in the open field of the collective; goodness flowers only in freedom from both.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The tantra masters are simply wild flowers, they have everything in them.”
Rajneesh (1931–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was a lovely morning. We have not had many lovely days. And the sun was just coming through the stained glass windows and falling on some flowers right across the church and it just occurred to me that this was the day I was meant not to see.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: TV Interview for Channel 4 A plus 4 (15 October 1984), referring to the Brighton bombing in which the IRA attempted to assassinate her.
“Guyal reined his horse and reflected that flowers were rarely cherished by persons of hostile disposition.”
Jack Vance (1916–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take me. I'm an ordinary player in the key of C. And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity. Who's gonna love you when you're looks are gone? God will. Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.”
Paul Simon (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached, in their glorious career that last highest point of nobleness beyond which human power cannot go. They died for their country.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source