George Gordon Byron Quotes

In secret we met
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.

— George Gordon Byron

“But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think.”

— George Gordon Byron

The thorns which I have reap'd are of the tree
I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed.
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.

— George Gordon Byron

“Friendship is love without wings.”

— George Gordon Byron

“They never fail who die in a great cause.”

— George Gordon Byron

A woman being never at a loss ... the devil always sticks by them.

— George Gordon Byron

“Letter writing is the only device combining solitude with good company.”

— George Gordon Byron

“She was like me in lineaments
her eyes
Her hair, her features, all, to the very tone
Even of her voice, they said were like to mine;
But soften'd all, and temper'd into beauty;
She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings,
The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind
To comprehend the universe: nor these
Alone, but with them gentler powers than mine,
Pity, and smiles, and tears
which I had not;
And tenderness
but that I had for her;
Humility
and that I never had.
Her faults were mine
her virtues were her own
I loved her, and destroy'd her!”

— George Gordon Byron

“Why I came here, I know not; where I shall go it is useless to inquire - in the midst of myriads of the living and the dead worlds, stars, systems, infinity, why should I be anxious about an atom?”

— George Gordon Byron

“We'll Go No More A-roving
So, we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart still be as loving,
And the moon still be as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.”

— George Gordon Byron

There is no instinct like that of the heart.

— George Gordon Byron

The light of love, the purity of grace,
The mind, the Music breathing from her face,
The heart whose softness harmonised the whole
And, oh! that eye was in itself a Soul!

— George Gordon Byron

“Yet he was jealous, though he did not show it, For jealousy dislikes the world to know it.”

— George Gordon Byron

“In her first passion, a woman loves her lover, in all the others all she loves is love.”

— George Gordon Byron

“My heart in passion, and my head on rhymes.”

— George Gordon Byron

And those who saw, it did surprise,
Such drops could fall from human eyes.

— George Gordon Byron

“A timid mind is apt to mistake every scratch for a mortal wound.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Years steal fire from the mind as vigor from the limb; and life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim.”

— George Gordon Byron

“I came to realize clearly that the mind is no other than the Mountain and the Rivers and the great wide Earth, the Sun and the Moon and the Sky.”

— George Gordon Byron

“So much alarmed that she is quite alarming”

— George Gordon Byron

“The 'good old times' - all times when old are good.”

— George Gordon Byron

“When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbours;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours.
To do good to Mankind is the chivalrous plan,
And is always as nobly requited;
Then battle fro Freedom wherever you can,
And, if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted.”

— George Gordon Byron

“As soon seek roses in December, ice in June,
Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff
Believe a woman or an epitaph
Or any other thing that's false
Before you trust in critics.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Here's a sigh to those who love me, And a smile to those who hate; And whatever sky's above me, Here's a heart for every fate.”

— George Gordon Byron

“He was a man of his times. with one virtue and a thousand crimes. (The Corsair)”

— George Gordon Byron

“I have not written for their pleasure ... I have never flattered their opinions, nor their pride; nor will I. Neither will I make "Ladies' books" al dilettar le femine e la plebe. I have written from the fulness of my mind, from passion, from impulse, from many sweet motives, but not for their "sweet voices."
I know the precise worth of popular applause, for few scribblers have had more of it; and if I chose to swerve into their paths, I could retain it, or resume it. But I neither love ye, nor fear ye; and though I buy with ye and sell with ye, I will neither eat with ye, drink with ye, nor pray with ye.”

— George Gordon Byron

Oh pleasure, you're indeed a pleasant thing, / Although one must be damned for you no doubt. / I make a resolution every spring / Of reformation, ere the year run out.

— George Gordon Byron

“I will keep no further journal of that same hesternal torch‐light ; and, to prevent me from returning, like a dog, to the vomit of memory, I tear out the remaining leaves of this volume ...”

— George Gordon Byron

“So we'll go no more a-roving so late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, and the moon be still as bright.”

— George Gordon Byron

“I awoke one morning to find myself famous.”

— George Gordon Byron

“All unquiet things,
which stir too strongly the soul's secret springs”

— George Gordon Byron

“Though sages may pour out their wisdom's treasure, there is no sterner moralist then Pleasure.”

— George Gordon Byron

Shadow! or Spirit!
Whatever thou art,
Which still doth inherit
The whole or a part
Of the form of thy birth,
Of the mould of thy clay,
Which returned to the earth,
Re-appear to the day!

— George Gordon Byron

“Many are poets, but without the name;
For what is Poesy but to create
From overfeeling Good or Ill; and aim
At an external life beyond our fate,
And be the new Prometheus of new men,
Bestowing fire from Heaven, and then, too late,
Finding the pleasure given repaid with pain”

— George Gordon Byron

“Oh could I feel as I have felt,-or be what I have been,
Or weep as I could once have wept, o'er many a vanish'd scene;
As springs in deserts found seem sweet, all brackish though they be,
So midst the wither'd waste of life, those tears would flow to me.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Remember thee! remember thee!
Till Lethe quench life's burning stream
Remorse and shame shall cling to thee,
And haunt thee like a feverish dream!
Remember thee! Aye, doubt it not.
Thy husband too shall think of thee:
By neither shalt thou be forgot,
Thou false to him, thou fiend to me!”

— George Gordon Byron

He thought about himself, and the whole Earth,
Of Man the wonderful, and of the Stars,
And how the deuce they ever could have birth;
And then he thought of Earthquakes, and of Wars,
How many miles the Moon might have in girth,
Of Air-balloons, and of the many bars
To perfect Knowledge of the boundless Skies;
And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes.

— George Gordon Byron

“Woman! experience might have told me,
That all must love thee who behold thee:
Surely experience might have taught
Thy firmest promises are nought:
But, placed in all thy charms before me,
All I forget, but to adore thee.”

— George Gordon Byron

“But quiet to quick bosoms is a hell.”

— George Gordon Byron

“The moon is up, and yet it is not night,
The sun as yet divides the day with her.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Now Juan could not understand a word, Being no Grecian; but he had an ear, And her voice was the warble of a bird, ... So soft, so sweet, so delicately clear, That finer, simpler music ne'er was heard; The sort of sound we echo with a tear, Without knowing why - an overpowering tone, Whence Melody descends as from a throne.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Ah, monarchs! could ye taste the mirth ye mar, Not in the toils of Glory would ye fret; The hoarse dull drum would sleep, and Man be happy yet.”

— George Gordon Byron

“A woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster salad and Champagne, the only true feminine and becoming viands.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Every feeling hath been shaken;
Pride, which not a world could bow,
Bows to thee - by thee forsaken,
Even my soul forsakes me now.”

— George Gordon Byron

“And thus they plod in sluggish misery,
Rotting from sire to son, and age to age,
Proud of their trampled nature, and so die,
Bequeathing their hereditary rage
To the new race of inborn slaves, who wage
War for their chains, and rather than be free,
Bleed gladiator-like, and still engage
Within the same arena where they see
Their fellows fall before, like leaves of the same tree.”

— George Gordon Byron

“Being of no party,
I shall offend all parties”

— George Gordon Byron

“Strange, the Hebrew noun which means "I am", The English always use to govern damn.”

— George Gordon Byron

“No more Keats, I entreat: flay him alive; if some of you don't I must skin him myself: there is no bearing the drivelling idiotism of the Mankin.”

— George Gordon Byron

“My great comfort is, that the temporary celebrity I have wrung from the world has been in the very teeth of all opinions and prejudices. I have flattered no ruling powers; I have never concealed a single thought that tempted me.”

— George Gordon Byron

“But suppose it past,-suppose one of these men, as I have seen them meagre with famine, sullen with despair, careless of a life which your lordships are perhaps about to value at something less than the price of a stocking-frame ; suppose this man surrounded by those children for whom he is unable to procure bread at the hazard of his existence, about to be torn for ever from a family which he lately supported in peaceful industry, and which it is not his fault than he can no longer so support; suppose this man-and there are ten thousand such from whom you may select your victims,-dragged into court to be tried for this new offence, by this new law,-still there are two things wanting to convict and condemn him, and these are, in my opinion, twelve butchers for a jury, and a Jefferies for a judge!”

— George Gordon Byron