Robert Southey Quotes

Our knowledge, is our power, and God our strength.

Some people seem born with a head in which the thin partition that divides great wit from folly is wanting.

O Reader! hast thou eer stood to see The Holly-tree? The eye that contemplates it well perceies Its glossy leaes Ordered by an Intelligence so wise As might confound the Atheist's sophistries.

The pulpit is a clergyman's parade; the parish is his field of active service.

A good man and a wise man may at times be angry with the world, at times grieved for it; but be sure no man was ever discontented with the world who did his duty in it.

Ye who dwell at home, Ye do not know the terrors of the main.

A man may be cheerful and contented in celibacy, but I do not think he can ever be happy; it is an unnatural state, and the best feelings of his nature are never called into action.

Oh, when a mother meets on high The babe she lost in infancy, Hath she not then for pains and fears, The day of woe, the watchful night, For all her sorrow, all her tears, An over-payment of delight?

The true one of youth's love, proving a faithful helpmate in those years when the dream of life is over, and we live in its realities.

Thou hast been called, O sleep, the friend of woe, But 'tis the happy that have called thee so.

Where Washington hath left His awful memory A light for after times!

In fall-orbed glory, yonder moon divine, Rolls through the dark blue depths.

The laws are with us, and God on our side.

Three things a wise man will not trust, The wind, the sunshine of an April day, And woman's plighted faith.

To a resolute mind, wishing to do is the first step toward doing. But if we do not wish to do a thing it becomes impossible.

Beware of those who are homeless by choice! You have no hold on human being whose affections are without a top-root!

Give me a room whose every nook is dedicated to a book.

My notions of life are much the same as they are about traveling; there is a good deal of amusement on the road; but, after all, one wants to be at rest.

Curses are like young chickens, theyalways come home to roost.

If you would be pungent, be brief.

My name is Death: the last best friend am I.

In the days of my youth I remembered my God! And He hath not forgotten my age.

I cannot believe in an eternity of hell. I hope God will forgive me if I err; but in this matter I cannot say, "Lord help my unbelief."

For society, of all places I have ever been, Norwich is the best.

A wise judge, by the craft of the law, was never seduced from its purpose.

My days among the dead are passed; Around me I behold, Where'er these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old; My never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day.

There is another world for all that live and move-a better one!

What will not woman gentle woman dare When strong affection stirs her spirit up?

Thou hast been called O sleep! the friend of woe But 'tis the happy who have called thee so.

It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed the deeper they burn.

Live as long as you may the first twenty years are the longest half of your life.

It has been more wittily than charitably said that hell is paved with good intentions. They have their place in heaven also.

A kitten is in the animal world what a rosebud is in the garden.

Is but the threshold of eternity.

As sure as God is good so surely there is no such thing as necessary evil.

Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be.(Southey's reply to Charlotte Bronte)