The words in prose ought to express the intended meaning, and no more; if they attract attention to themselves, it is, in general, a fault.

Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward; it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.

What comes from the heart goes to the heart

The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father.

Within today, tomorrow is already walking.

Show me one couple unhappy merely on account of their limited circumstances, and I will show you ten who are wretched from other causes.

Creation rather than painting, or if painting, yet such, and with such co-presence of the whole picture flash'd at once upon the eye, as the sun paints in a camera obscura. (Describing his poetic ideal, 1817)