William Wordsworth Quotes

But thou that didst appear so fair To fond imagination, Dost rival in the light of day Her delicate creation.

The education of circumstances is superior to that of tuition.

I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, wherever nature led.

In years that bring the philosophic mind.

The moving accident is not my trade; To freeze the blood I have no ready arts: 'Tis my delight, alone in summer shade, To pipe a simple song for thinking hearts.

Or shipwrecked, kindles on the coast False fires, that others may be lost.

Habit rules the unreflecting herd.

Wrongs unredressed, or insults unavenged.

Neither evil tongues, rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all the dreary intercourse of daily life, shall ever prevail against us.

Plain living and high thinking are no more.

And when the stream Which overflowed the soul was passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left Deposited upon the silent shore Of memory images and precious thoughts That shall not die, and cannot be destroyed.

All men feel a habitual gratitude, and something of an honorable bigotry, for the objects which have long continued to please them.

But who would force the soul tilts with a straw Against a champion cased in adamant

Miss not the occasion; by the forelock take that subtle power, the never-halting time.

She was a phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight, A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment's ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair, Like twilights too her dusky hair, But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful dawn.

Tis said, fantastic ocean doth enfold The likeness of whate'er on land is seen.

Hearing often-times the still, sad music of humanity, nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power to chasten and subdue.

Poetry is the outcome of emotions recollected in tranquility.

His love was like the liberal air, embracing all, to cheer and bless.

By all means sometimes be alone; salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear; dare to look in thy chest; and tumble up and down what thou findest there.

Huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men, moved slowly through the mind by day and were trouble to my dreams.

One of those heavenly days that cannot die.

Imagination is the means of deep insight and sympathy, the power to conceive and express images removed from normal objective reality.

A great poet ought to a certain degree to rectify men's feelings... to render their feelings more sane, pure and permanent, in short, more consonant to Nature.

When his veering gait And every motion of his starry train Seem governed by a strain Of music, audible to him alone.

One with more of soul in his face than words on his tongue.

Dreams, books, are each a world.

For youthful faults ripe virtues shall atone.