Lord Byron Quotes

The sight of blood to crowds begets the thirst of more, As the first wine-cup leads to the long revel.

Tis the perception of the beautiful, A fine extension of the faculties, Platonic, universal, wonderful, Drawn from the stars, and filtered through the skies, Without which life would be extremely dull

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.

Let none think to fly the danger for soon or late love is his own avenger.

Oh! might I kiss those eyes of fire, A million scarce would quench desire; Still would I steep my lips in bliss, And dwell an age on every kiss; Nor then my soul should sated be, Still would I kiss and cling to thee: Nought should my kiss from thine dissever, Still would we kiss and kiss for ever; E'en though the numbers did exceed The yellow harvest's countless seed; To part would be a vain endeavour: Could I desist? -ah! never-never.

Twas twilight, and the sunless day went down Over the waste of waters; like a veil, Which, if withdrawn, would but disclose the frown Of one whose hate is mask'd but to assail.

Prolonged endurance tames the bold.

Nothing so difficult as a beginning In poesy, unless perhaps the end.

'Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it.

I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone.

Few things surpass old wine; and they may preach Who please, the more because they preach in vain

I came to realize clearly that the mind is no other than the Mountain and the Rivers and the great wide Earth, the Sun and the Moon and the Sky”.

Man's conscience is the oracle of God.

Retirement accords with the tone of my mind; I will not descend to a world I despise.

Sublime tobacco! which from east to west, Cheers the tar's labour or the Turkman's rest; Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides His hours, and rivals opium and his brides; Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand, Though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand: Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe, When tipp'd with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe; Like other charmers wooing the caress, More dazzlingly when daring in full dress; Yet thy true lovers more admire by far Thy naked beauties Give me a cigar!

I really cannot know whether I am or am not the Genius you are pleased to call me, but I am very willing to put up with the mistake, if it be one. It is a title dearly enough bought by most men, to render it endurable, even when not quite clearly made out, which it never can be till the Posterity, whose decisions are merely dreams to ourselves, has sanctioned or denied it, while it can touch us no further.

The Christian has greatly the advantage of the unbeliever, having everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Tis sweet to listen as the night winds creep From leaf to leaf.

I speak not of men's creeds—they rest between Man and his Maker.

But every fool describes, in these bright days, His wondrous journey to some foreign court, And spawns his quarto, and demands your praise,-- Death to his publisher, to him 'tis sport.

I have seen a thousand graves opened, and always perceived that whatever was gone, the teeth and hair remained of those who had died with them. Is not this odd? They go the very first things in youth and yet last the longest in the dust.

What's drinking? A mere pause from thinking!

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.

Ecclesiastes said that "all is vanity," Most modern preachers say the same, or show it By their examples of true Christianity: In short, all know, or very short may know it.

Till taught by pain, men know not water's worth.

Religion-freedom-vengeance-what you will, A word's enough to raise mankind to kill.

I have simplified my politics into an utter detestation of all existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and most agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment of an universal republic would convert me into an advocate for single and uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches are power, and poverty is slavery all over the earth, and one sort of establishment is no better, nor worse, for a people than another.

This place is the Devil, or at least his principal residence, they call it the University, but any other appellation would have suited it much better, for study is the last pursuit of the society; the Master eats, drinks, and sleeps, the Fellows drink, dispute and pun, the employments of the undergraduates you will probably conjecture without my description.

A sort of hostile transaction, very necessary to keep the world going, but by no means a sinecure to the parties concerned.

Maidens, like moths, are ever caught, by glare, And Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair.

I am acquainted with no immaterial sensuality so delightful as good acting.

The image of Eternity--the throne Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.

A mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, you are lovers; and when it is over, anything but friends.

In hope to merit heaven by making earth a hell.

My days are in the yellow leaf; The flowers and fruits of love are gone; The worm, the canker, and the grief, Are mine alone!

Shakespeare's name, you may depend on it, stands absurdly too high and will go down.

Adversity is the first path to truth.

My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes.

Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth! Immortal, though no more! though fallen, great!

The very best of vineyards is the cellar

By Heaven! it is a splendid sight to see For one who hath no friend, no brother there.

In general I do not draw well with literary men -- not that I dislike them but I never know what to say to them after I have praised their last publication.

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean

The busy have no time for tears.

That famish'd people must be slowly nurst, and fed by spoonfuls, else they always burst.

But I had not quite fixed whether to make him [Don Juan] end in Hell-or in an unhappy marriage,-not knowing which would be the severest.

They truly mourn, that mourn without a witness.

Yet I did love thee to the last, As ferverently as thou, Who didst not change through all the past, And canst not alter now.