Quotations from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892
- A still small voice spake unto me,
"Thou art so full of misery,
Were it not better not to be?"
The Two Voices [1832], st. 1- This truth within thy mind rehearse,
That in a boundless universe
Is boundless better, boundless worse.
The Two Voices [1832], st. 9- No life that breathes with human breath
Has ever truly longed for death.
The Two Voices [1832], st. 132- Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
Oenone [1832], l. 142- The gardener Adam and his wife
Smile at the claims of long descent.
Lady Clara Vere de Vere [1832], st. 7- In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon.
The Lotos-Eaters [1832], st. 1- I will drink
Life to the lees.
Ulysses [1842], l. 6- Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.
Ulysses [1842], l. 51- Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite,
The sounding furrows, for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
Ulysses [1842], l. 55- To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Ulysses [1842], l. 70- Till the war drum throbbed no longer and the battle flags were furled
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.
Locksley Hall [1842], l. 127- Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
Locksley Hall [1842], l. 141- Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change.
Locksley Hall [1842], l. 182- My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
Sir Galahad [1842], st. 1- 'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
In Memoriam [1850]. 27, st. 4- Be near me when my light is low.
In Memoriam [1850]. 50, st. 1- Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
The Charge of the Light Brigade [1854], 1 st. 1- Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
The Charge of the Light Brigade [1854], 1 st. 2- Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered.
The Charge of the Light Brigade [1854], 1 st. 3- Into the jaws of death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
The Charge of the Light Brigade [1854], 1 st. 3- For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
The Brook [1855], song, st. 6- Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null,
Dead perfection, no more.
Maud [1855], pt. I, sec. ii- Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King --
Else, wherefore born?
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], Gareth and Lynette, l. 117- Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], The Marriage of Geraint, l. 352- For man is man and master of his fate.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], The Marriage of Geraint, l. 355- Blind and naked Ignorance
Delivers brawling judgments, unashamed,
On all things all day long.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], Merlin and Vivien, l. 662- He makes no friend who never made a foe.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], Lancelot and Elaine, l. 1082- The greater man the greater courtesy.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], The Last Tournament, l. 628- The vow that binds too strictly snaps itself.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], The Last Tournament, l. 652- For manners are not idle, but the fruit
Of loyal nature and of noble mind.
Idylls of the King [1859-1885], Guinevere, l. 333- The worst is yet to come.
Sea Dreams [1864], l. 301
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