Lord Byron Quotes & Sayings

I do detest everything which is not perfectly mutual. — Lord Byron

A man must serve his time to every trade,
Save censure-critics all are ready made.
Take hackney'd jokes from Miller, got by rote
With just enough learning to misquote ... — Lord Byron

There is no traitor like him whose domestic treason plants the poniard within the breast that trusted to his truth — Lord Byron

Just as old age is creeping on space, And clouds come o'er the sunset of our day, They kindly leave us, though not quite alone, But in good company
the gout or stone. — Lord Byron

Yet truth will sometimes lend her noblest fires, And decorate the verse herself inspires: This fact, in virtue's name, let Crabbe attest,- Though Nature's sternest painter, yet the best. — Lord Byron

The dome of thought, the palace of the soul. — Lord Byron

We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive. — Lord Byron

What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little. — Lord Byron

And wrinkles, the damned democrats, won't flatter. — Lord Byron

Had sigh'd to many, though he loved but one. — Lord Byron

Socrates said, our only knowledge was
"To know that nothing could be known;" a pleasant
Science enough, which levels to an ass
Each Man of Wisdom, future, past, or present.
Newton, (that Proverb of the Mind,) alas!
Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent,
That he himself felt only "like a youth
Picking up shells by the great Ocean-Truth." — Lord Byron

Yet I did love thee to the last, As ferverently as thou, Who didst not change through all the past, And canst not alter now. — Lord Byron

This sort of adoration of the real is but a heightening of the beau ideal. — Lord Byron

There is no passion, more spectral or fantastical than hate, not even its opposite, love, so peoples air, with phantoms, as this madness of the heart. — Lord Byron

The reason that adulation is not displeasing is that, though untrue, it shows one to be of consequence enough, in one way or other, to induce people to lie. — Lord Byron

So bright the tear in Beauty's eye, Love half regrets to kiss it dry. — Lord Byron

Books, Manuals, Directives, Regulations. The geometries that circumscribe your working life draw norrower and norrower until nothing fits inside them anymore. — Lord Byron

So for a good old-gentlemanly vice, I think I must take up with avarice. — Lord Byron

I think the worst woman that ever existed would have made a man of very passable reputation
they are all better than us and their faults such as they are must originate with ourselves. — Lord Byron

Curiosity kills itself; and love is only curiosity, as is proved by its end. — Lord Byron

Gone, glimmering through the dream of things that were. — Lord Byron

He scratched his ear, the infallible resource to which embarrassed people have recourse. — Lord Byron

Ada! sole daughter of my house and heart. — Lord Byron

O ye! who teach the ingenious youth of nations, Holland, France, England, Germany or Spain, I pray ye flog them upon all occasions, It mends their morals, never mind the pain. — Lord Byron

I learned to love despair. — Lord Byron

Lord of himself; that heritage of woe! — Lord Byron

I am so convinced of the advantages of looking at mankind instead of reading about them, ... that I think there should be a law amongst us to set our young men abroad for a term among the few allies our wars have left us. — Lord Byron

Tis sweet to listen as the night winds creep From leaf to leaf. — Lord Byron

Folly loves the martyrdom of fame. — Lord Byron

A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know. — Lord Byron

The world is a bundle of hay, Mankind are the asses that pull, Each tugs in a different way And the greatest of all is John Bull! — Lord Byron

No more we meet in yonder bowers Absence has made me prone to roving; But older, firmer hearts than ours, Have found monotony in loving. — Lord Byron

A quiet conscience makes one so serene. — Lord Byron

It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us. A year impairs, a luster obliterates. There is little distinct left without an effort of memory, then indeed the lights are rekindled for a moment - but who can be sure that the Imagination is not the torch-bearer? — Lord Byron

To withdraw myself from myself has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in scribbling at all. — Lord Byron

Tis said that persons living on annuities Are longer lived than others. — Lord Byron

But there are wanderers o'er Eternity Whose bark drives on and on, and anchor'd ne'er shall be. — Lord Byron

The heart ran o'er With silent worship of the great of old!
The dead, but sceptred sovereigns, who still rule Our spirits from their urns. — Lord Byron

To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. — Lord Byron

On the ear Drops the light drip of the suspended oar. — Lord Byron

I have a notion that gamblers are as happy as most people - being always excited. — Lord Byron

Champagne with its foaming whirls/As white as Cleopatra's pearls. — Lord Byron

This is to be along; this, this is solitude! — Lord Byron

Sighing that Nature formed but one such man, and broke the die. — Lord Byron

What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow? To view each loved one blotted from life's page, And be alone on earth, as I am now. — Lord Byron

This place is the Devil, or at least his principal residence, they call it the University, but any other appellation would have suited it much better, for study is the last pursuit of the society; the Master eats, drinks, and sleeps, the Fellows drink, dispute and pun, the employments of the undergraduates you will probably conjecture without my description. — Lord Byron

Still from the fount of joy's delicious springs Some bitter o'er the flowers its bubbling venom flings. — Lord Byron

If from society we learn to live, solitude should teach us how to die. — Lord Byron

Damn description, it is always disgusting. — Lord Byron

Tis not on youth's smooth cheek the blush alone, which fades so fast, But the tender bloom of heart is gone, ere youth itself be past. — Lord Byron

There's not a sea the passenger e'er pukes in, Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine. — Lord Byron

Ah, happy years! once more who would not be a boy? — Lord Byron

Yes! Ready money is Aladdin's lamp. — Lord Byron

There is, in fact, no law or government at all; and it is wonderful how well things go on without them. — Lord Byron

He makes a solitude, and calls it - peace! — Lord Byron

From the mingled strength of shade and light A new creation rises to my sight, Such heav'nly figures from his pencil flow, So warm with light his blended colors glow ... The glowing portraits, fresh from life, that bring Home to our hearts the truth from which they spring. — Lord Byron

None are so desolate but something dear, Dearer than self, possesses or possess'd A thought, and claims the homage of a tear. — Lord Byron

Oh! might I kiss those eyes of fire, A million scarce would quench desire; Still would I steep my lips in bliss, And dwell an age on every kiss; Nor then my soul should sated be, Still would I kiss and cling to thee: Nought should my kiss from thine dissever, Still would we kiss and kiss for ever; E'en though the numbers did exceed The yellow harvest's countless seed; To part would be a vain endeavour: Could I desist? -ah! never-never. — Lord Byron

Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art, For there thy habitation is the heart
The heart which love of thee alone can bind; And when thy sons to fetters are consign'd
To fetters and damp vault's dayless gloom, Their country conquers with their martyrdom. — Lord Byron

There is something to me very softening in the presence of a woman, some strange influence, even if one is not in love with them, which I cannot at all account for, having no very high opinion of the sex. But yet, I always feel in better humor with myself and every thing else, if there is a woman within ken. — Lord Byron

One certainly has a soul; but how it came to allow itself to be enclosed in a body is more than I can imagine. I only know if once mine gets out, I'll have a bit of a tussle before I let it get in again to that of any other. — Lord Byron

Nothing can confound a wise man more than laughter from a dunce. — Lord Byron

I am not now
That which I have been. — Lord Byron

A pretty woman is a welcome guest. — Lord Byron

America is a model of force and freedom and moderation - with all the coarseness and rudeness of its people. — Lord Byron

What opposite discoveries we have seen!
(Signs of true genius, and of empty pockets.)
One makes new noses, one a guillotine,
One breaks your bones, one sets them in their sockets;
But vaccination certainly has been
A kind antithesis to Congreve's rockets, ... — Lord Byron

Tis pleasant purchasing our fellow-creatures; And all are to be sold, if you consider Their passions, and are dext'rous; some by features Are brought up, others by a warlike leader; Some by a place
as tend their years or natures; The most by ready cash
but all have prices, From crowns to kicks, according to their vices. — Lord Byron

Oh, for a forty-parson power to chant Thy praise, Hypocrisy! Oh, for a hymn Loud as the virtues thou dost loudly vaunt, Not practise! — Lord Byron

Italia! O Italia! thou who hast The fatal gift of beauty. — Lord Byron

Self-love for ever creeps out, like a snake, to sting anything which happens to stumble upon it. — Lord Byron

Oh! too convincing
dangerously dear
In woman's eye the unanswerable tear! That weapon of her weakness she can wield, To save, subdue
at once her spear and shield. — Lord Byron

I only know we loved in vain; I only feel-farewell! farewell! — Lord Byron

Sublime tobacco! which from east to west, Cheers the tar's labour or the Turkman's rest; Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides His hours, and rivals opium and his brides; Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand, Though not less loved, in Wapping or the Strand: Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe, When tipp'd with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe; Like other charmers wooing the caress, More dazzlingly when daring in full dress; Yet thy true lovers more admire by far Thy naked beauties Give me a cigar! — Lord Byron

Time strips our illusions of their hue, And one by one in turn, some grand mistake Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake. — Lord Byron

When Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter." And proved it
't was no matter what he said. — Lord Byron

Father of Light! great God of Heaven! Hear'st thou the accents of despair? Can guilt like man's be e'er forgiven? Can vice atone for crimes by prayer. — Lord Byron

Men are the sport of circumstances when it seems circumstances are the sport of men. — Lord Byron

I am as comfortless as a pilgrim with peas in his shoes - and as cold as Charity, Chastity or any other Virtue. — Lord Byron

Her great merit is finding out mine - there is nothing so amiable as discernment. — Lord Byron

A bargain is in its very essence a hostile transaction do not all men try to abate the price of all they buy? I contend that a bargain even between brethren is a declaration of war. — Lord Byron

The poetry of speech. — Lord Byron

Kill a man's family, and he may brook it, But keep your hands out of his breeches' pocket. — Lord Byron

And dreams in their development have breath, And tears, and tortures, and the touch of joy; They have a weight upon our waking thoughts, They take a weight from off our waking toils, They do divide our being. — Lord Byron

Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife, He would have written sonnets all his life?. — Lord Byron

Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains; They crown'd him long ago On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, With a diadem of snow. — Lord Byron

One hates an author that's all author. — Lord Byron

Tyranny is for the worst of treasons. — Lord Byron

And Mocha's berry, from Arabia pure, In small fine china cups, came in at last. Gold cups of filigree, made to secure the hand from burning, underneath them place. Cloves, cinnamon and saffron, too, were boiled Up with the coffee, which, I think, they spoiled. — Lord Byron

History - the devil's scripture — Lord Byron

But as to women, who can penetrate the real sufferings of their she condition? Man's very sympathy with their estate has much of selfishness and more suspicion. Their love, their virtue, beauty, education, but form good housekeepers, to breed a nation. — Lord Byron

So sweet the blush of bashfulness, E'en pity scarce can wish it less! — Lord Byron

O Fame! if I ever took delight in thy praises, Twas less for the sake of thy high-sounding phrases, Than to see the bright eyes of the dear one discover The thought that I was not unworthy to love her. — Lord Byron

I cannot help thinking that the menace of Hell makes as many devils as the severe penal codes of inhuman humanity make villains. — Lord Byron

No hand can make the clock strike for me the hours that are passed. — Lord Byron

But I had not quite fixed whether to make him [Don Juan] end in Hell-or in an unhappy marriage,-not knowing which would be the severest. — Lord Byron

Let not his mode of raising cash seem strange,
Although he fleeced the flags of every nation,
For into a prime minister but change
His title, and 'tis nothing but taxation. — Lord Byron

Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world; whereas nothing rises quicker than dust, straw, and feathers. — Lord Byron

This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing To waft me from distraction. — Lord Byron

I am the very slave of circumstance And impulse borne away with every breath! Misplaced upon the throne misplaced in life. I know not what I could have been, but feel I am not what I should be let it end. — Lord Byron

As long as I retain my feeling and my passion for Nature, I can partly soften or subdue my other passions and resist or endure those of others. — Lord Byron