Top 400 William Wordsworth Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “Science appears but what in truth she is, Not as our glory and our absolute boast, But as a succedaneum, and a prop To our infirmity.”

— William Wordsworth

102. “Truth takes no account of centuries.”

— William Wordsworth

103. “A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.”

— William Wordsworth

104. “The gods approve The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul.”

— William Wordsworth

105. “We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love; And, even as these are well and wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend.”

— William Wordsworth

106. “Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will; Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!”

— William Wordsworth

107. “We must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold Which Milton held.”

— William Wordsworth

108. “And you must love him, ere to you He will seem worthy of your love.”

— William Wordsworth

109. “Because the good old rule Sufficeth them,-the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can.”

— William Wordsworth

110. “This City now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie Open unto the fields and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”

— William Wordsworth

111. “The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.”

— William Wordsworth

112. “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.”

— William Wordsworth

113. “I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, wherever nature led.”

— William Wordsworth

114. “The first cuckoo’s melancholy cry.”

— William Wordsworth

115. “Imagination, which in truth Is but another name for absolute power And clearest insight, amplitude of mind, And reason, in her most exalted mood.”

— William Wordsworth

116. “A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable.”

— William Wordsworth

117. “The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where’er I go, That there hath passed away a glory from the earth.”

— William Wordsworth

118. “My apprehension comes in crowds, I dread the rustling of the grass, The very shadows of the clouds, Have power to shake me as they pass, I question things and do not find, one that will answer to my mind, And all the world appears unkind.”

— William Wordsworth

119. “The primal duties shine aloft, like stars; The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, Are scattered at the feet of Man, like flowers.”

— William Wordsworth

120. “Type of the wise who soar but never roam, True to the kindred points of heaven and home.”

— William Wordsworth

121. “I travelled among unknown men, In lands beyond the sea; Nor England! did I know till then What love I bore to thee.”

— William Wordsworth

122. “Not in Utopia, – subterranean fields, – Or some secreted island, Heaven knows whereBut in the very world, which is the worldOf all of us, – the place where in the endWe find our happiness, or not at all.”

— William Wordsworth

123. “Death is the quiet haven of us all.”

— William Wordsworth

124. “Father! – to God himself we cannot give a holier name.”

— William Wordsworth

125. “The thought of death sits easy on the man Who has been born and dies among the mountains.”

— William Wordsworth

126. “The vision and the faculty divine; Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse.”

— William Wordsworth

127. “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”

— William Wordsworth

128. “Keep your heart clear And transparent, And you will Never be bound. A single disturbed thought Creates ten thousand distractions.”

— William Wordsworth

129. “Stern Winter loves a dirge-like sound.”

— William Wordsworth

130. “A simple child. That lightly draws its breath. And feels its life in every limb. What should it know of death?”

— William Wordsworth

131. “Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies, Let them live upon their praises.”

— William Wordsworth

132. “We have within ourselves Enough to fill the present day with joy, And overspread the future years with hope.”

— William Wordsworth

133. “Happier of happy though I be, like them I cannot take possession of the sky, mount with a thoughtless impulse, and wheel there, one of a mighty multitude whose way and motion is a harmony and dance magnificent.”

— William Wordsworth

134. “Nor will I then thy modest grace forget, Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of Spring, And pensive monitor of fleeting years!”

— William Wordsworth

135. “The mind that is wise mourns less for what age takes away; than what it leaves behind.”

— William Wordsworth

136. “A multitude of causes unknown to former times are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor.”

— William Wordsworth

137. “The child shall become father to the man.”

— William Wordsworth

138. “How is it that you live, and what is it you do?”

— William Wordsworth

139. “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.”

— William Wordsworth

140. “Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.”

— William Wordsworth

141. “A famous man is Robin Hood, The English ballad-singer’s joy.”

— William Wordsworth

142. “The clouds that gather round the setting sun, Do take a sober colouring from an eye, That hath kept watch o’er man’s mortality.”

— William Wordsworth

143. “The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face.”

— William Wordsworth

144. “The light that never was, on sea or land; The consecration, and the Poet’s dream.”

— William Wordsworth

145. “A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by One after one; the sound of rain, and bees Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds and seas, Smooth fields, white sheets of water, and pure sky – I’ve thought of all by turns, and still I lie Sleepless...”

— William Wordsworth

146. “The soft blue sky did never melt Into his heart; he never felt The witchery of the soft blue sky!”

— William Wordsworth

147. “Small service is true service, while it lasts.”

— William Wordsworth

148. “She gave me eyes, she gave me ears; And humble cares, and delicate fears; A heart, the fountain of sweet tears; And love and thought and joy.”

— William Wordsworth

149. “Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, Brought from a pensive though a happy place.”

— William Wordsworth

150. “The Poet, gentle creature as he is, Hath, like the Lover, his unruly times; His fits when he is neither sick nor well, Though no distress be near him but his own Unmanageable thoughts.”

— William Wordsworth