As someone who has always been fascinated by the beauty and power of poetry, I have always admired William Wordsworth’s work. His ability to express the essence of human emotion and the natural world in his verse is genuinely exceptional, and his status as one of the most prominent poets of the Romantic era is well-deserved.
What I love about Wordsworth’s poetry is how he shares his ideas and beliefs through his words, creating a beautiful and insightful tapestry that continues to inspire readers today.
In this article, I’d like to explore some of Wordsworth’s most famous and well-known quotes, and also give my views on what they may teach us about life, love, and the power of poetry.
Who is William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a famous English poet who lived a long time ago, from 1770 to 1850. He’s like a big deal in the Romanticism movement, which is all about feelings, being unique, and loving nature. Some of his most famous works are “Tintern Abbey” “The Prelude,” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” also known as “Daffodils.”
Here are a few well-known facts about Wordsworth:
- William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in the Lake District of England. He developed an interest in poetry while studying at Cambridge University.
- In 1798, he and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published “Lyrical Ballads,” a groundbreaking collection of poetry that helped define the Romantic movement.
- He served as Poet Laureate of England from 1843 until his death in 1850.
- He was also a close friend of fellow Romantic poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley and was influential in the development of their poetry as well.
- His poetry often celebrated the beauty and power of nature, and he was known for his use of simple, everyday language in his verse.
William Wordsworth Quotes On Nature, Love and Life
The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly.
What we have loved Others will love And we will teach them how.
The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little do we see in Nature that is ours.
Suffering is permanent, obscure, and dark, And shares the nature of infinity.
Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.
Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.
Fill your paper with the breathing of your heart.
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.
Wisdom is oft-times nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.
Life is divided into three terms – that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit from the present, and from the present, to live better in the future.
Come grow old with me. The best is yet to be.
The music in my heart I bore Long after it was heard no more.
Memories… images and precious thoughts that shall not die and cannot be destroyed.
The strongest minds are often those whom the noisy world hears least.
How many undervalue the power of simplicity? But it is the real key to the heart.
A mind forever Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.
And suddenly all your troubles melt away, all your worries are gone, and it is for no reason other than the look in your partner’s eyes. Yes, sometimes life and love really is that simple.
We have within ourselves enough to fill the present day with joy And overspread the future years with hope.
The education of circumstances is superior to that of tuition.
With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.
Imagination is the means of deep insight and sympathy, the power to conceive and express images removed from normal objective reality.
The good die first, and they whose hearts are dry as summer dust, burn to the socket.
Delight and liberty, the simple creed of childhood.
Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
Open-mindedness is the harvest of a quiet eye.
By all means, sometimes be alone; salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear; dare to look in thy chest; and tumble up and down what thou findest there.
The childhood of today is the manhood of tomorrow.
Then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with the daffodils.
And yet the wiser mind Mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind.
Look for the stars, you’ll say that there are none; / Lookup a second time, and, one by one, / You mark them twinkling out with silvery light, / And wonder how they could elude the sight!
All that we behold is full of blessings.
Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge – it is as immortal as the heart of man.
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills When all at once I saw a crowd A host of golden daffodils Beside the lake beneath the trees Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
And I was taught to feel, perhaps too much, The self-sufficing power of solitude.
Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of knowledge.
That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, but rather find strength in what remains behind.
Be mild, and cleave to gentle things, thy glory, and thy happiness be there.
Faith is a passionate intuition.
Thought and theory must precede all action, that moves to salutary purposes. Yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.
Therefore, let the moon shine on thee in thy solitary walk; let the misty mountain winds be free to blow against thee.
Pleasure is spread through the earth In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
Great is the glory, for the strife, is hard!
Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression that is in the countenance of all Science.
In sleep I heard the northern gleams; The stars were among my dreams; In sleep did I behold the skies.
All that we behold is full of blessings.
For all things are less dreadful than they seem.
The strongest minds are often those whom the noisy world hears least.
Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.
I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean, and the living air, and the blue sky, and in the mind of man.
The ocean is a mighty harmonist.
When from our better selves we have too long been parted by the hurrying world, and droop. Sick of its business, of its pleasures tired, how gracious, how benign is solitude.
I’ll teach my boy the sweetest things; I’ll teach him how the owlet sings.
Far from the world I walk, and from all care.
A deep distress hath humanized my soul.
A cheerful life is what the Muses love. A soaring spirit is their prime delight.
While all the future, for thy purer soul, With “sober certainties” of love is blest.
To character and success, two things, contradictory as they may seem, must go together… humble dependence on God and manly reliance on self.
Famous William Wordsworth Quotes
A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable.
And homeless near a thousand homes I stood, And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.
The mind that is wise mourns less for what age takes away; than what it leaves behind.
We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love; And, even as these are well and wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend.
Our birth is but asleep and forgetting. Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory do we come.
A simple child. That lightly draws its breath. And feels its life in every limb. What should it know of death?
And when the stream Which overflowed the soul was passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left Deposited upon the silent shore Of memory images and precious thoughts That shall not die and cannot be destroyed.
In ourselves, our safety must be sought. By our own right hand, it must be wrought.
Neither evil tongues, rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all the dreary intercourse of daily life, shall ever prevail against us.
Pictures deface walls more often than they decorate them.
There is a comfort in the strength of love; ‘Twill makes a thing endurable, which else would overset the brain, or break the heart.
She died and left to me This heath, this calm and quiet scene, The memory of what has been, And never more will be.
From the body of one guilty deed a thousand ghostly fears and haunting thoughts proceed.
Through love, through hope, and faith’s transcendent dower, We feel that we are greater than we know.
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills When all at once I saw a crowd A host of golden daffodils Beside the lake beneath the trees Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Habit rules the unreflecting herd.
We will grieve not, but rather find strength in what remains behind.
What we have loved, others will love, and we will teach them how; instruct them how the mind of man becomes a thousand times more beautiful than the earth on which he dwells.
Wild is the music of autumnal winds Among the faded woods.
Fill your paper with the breathing of your heart.
Did you find these quotes by William Wordsworth inspiring?
Did you find these quotes from William Wordsworth inspiring? If so, be sure to share them with your network and spread the word about the enduring power of poetry.
Whether you’re a fan of Wordsworth’s work or simply looking for inspiration and guidance, these quotes offer a wealth of insight and wisdom that can help us navigate the challenges of modern life.
