Quotes from William Wordsworth

The happy Warrior... is he... who, with a natural instinct to discern what knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn; abides by this resolve, and stops not there, but makes his moral being his prime care.

So that almost a doubt within me springs   Of Providence, such emptiness at length   Seems at the heart of all things. But, great God!   I measure back the steps which I have trod

The Man of Science seeks truth as a remote and unknown benefactor; he cherishes and love it in his solitude: the Poet, singing a song in which all human beings join with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and hourly companion.

Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way.

Imagination, which in truth Is but another name for absolute power And clearest insight, amplitude of mind, And reason, in her most exalted mood.

Resigned to vacant musing, Unreproved neglect of all things And deliberate holiday.

We must be free or die, who speak the tongue that Shakespeare spoke: the faith and morals hold which Milton held.

Yet in the agony of my spirit in surrendering such a treasure I feel a thousand times richer than if I had never possessed it.

No other than the very heart of man, As found among the best of those who live-- Not unexalted by religious faith, Nor uninformed by books, good books, though few-- In Nature's presence: thence may I select Sorrow, that is not sorrow, but delight; And miserable love, that is not pain To hear of, for the glory that redounds Therefrom to human kind, and what we are.

The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, are scattered at the feet of man, like flowers.

Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul: While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things.

Oh, be wise, thou! Instructed that true knowledge leads to love.