Swinburne Quotes

1.Body and spirit are twins: God only knows which is which.


2.And the best and the worst of this is
 That neither is most to blame
 If you have forgotten my kisses
 And I have forgotten your name.
An Interlude




3."But from sharp words and wits men pluck no fruit;
And gathering thorns they shake the tree at root;
For words divide and rend,
But silence is most noble till the end."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Atalanta"


4."Death, if thou wilt, fain would I plead with thee:
Canst thou not spare, of all our hopes have built,
One shelter where our spirits fain would be
Death, if thou wilt?"
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Dialogue"


5."Heart's ease of pansy, pleasure or thought,
Which would the picture give us of these?
Surely the heart that conceived it sought
Heart's ease."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Flower Piece by Fanten"


6."If love were what the rose is,
And I were like the leaf,
Our lives would grow together
In sad or singing weather."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Match"


7."In the world of dreams, I have chosen my part.
To sleep for a season and hear no word
Of true love's truth or of light love's art,
Only the song of a secret bird."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Ballad of Dreamland--Envoi"


8."Not with dreams, but with blood and with iron
Shall a nation be moulded to last."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "A Word for the Country"


9."There is no such thing as a dumb poet or a handless painter. The essence of an artist is that he should be articulate."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne


10."White rose in red rose-garden
Is not so white;
Snowdrops, that plead for pardon
And pine for fright
Because the hard East blows
Over their maiden vows,
Grow not as this face grows from pale to bright."
- Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Before the Mirror"