Quotessence
Home / Authors / Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenLoveTheeIfsSoulLifeMayEarthHeartHeavenTearsWorldEyeLooksStillsThinkingBookLightFacesLittles

Famous Elizabeth Barrett Browning Quotes

“If thou must love me, let it be for naught Except for love's sake only. Do not say, 'I love her for her smile—her look—her way Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and certes brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'— For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may Be changed, or change for thee—and love, so wrought, May be unwrought so. Neither love me for Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry: A creature might forget to weep, who bore Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! But love me for love's sake, that evermore Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity. If Thou Must Love Me”

LovePoetry
Book:Sonnets from the Portuguese
Create image

“I thought once how Theocritus had sung Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years, Who each one in a gracious hand appears To bear a gift for mortals, old or young; And, as I mused it in his antique tongue, I saw, in gradual vision through my tears, The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years, Those of my own life, who by turns had flung A shadow across me. Straightaway I was 'ware, So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair; And a voice said in mastery, while I strove,-- Guess now who holds thee?--Death, I said, But, there, The silver answer rang,--Not Death, but Love.”

LoveDeathLongingMelancholy
Book:Sonnets from the Portuguese
Create image

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.”

LovePoetryPoemsSonnetSonnet Xlii
Book:Sonnets from the Portuguese
Create image

“My letters! all dead paper, mute and white! And yet they seem alive and quivering Against my tremulous hands which loose the string And let them drop down on my knee to-night. This said, -- he wished to have me in his sight Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring To come and touch my hand ... a simple thing, Yet I wept for it! -- this, ... the paper's light ... Said, Dear I love thee; and I sank and quailed As if God's future thundered on my past. This said, I am thine -- and so its ink has paled With lying at my heart that beat too fast. And this ... O Love, thy words have ill availed If, what this said, I dared repeat at last!”

LoveFriendshipLettersLongingPromisesCourtshipVisits
Book:Sonnets from the Portuguese
Create image

“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.”

LoveSoulLove YouDepthTrue LoveMy SoulTheeHeightValentineValentine's DayI Love YouBeing In LoveVowSonnetDeep LoveLove PoemsLoving SomeoneNo LoveFamous LoveBreadthMy BoyfriendLove And MarriageWhen You Love SomeoneMy Love For YouWedding CeremonyValentine LoveValentines Day LoveGreat PoetryMadly In LoveLove For HerRomantic Valentines DayLove You So MuchWedding VowSt ValentineYour BoyfriendHappy ValentinesHappy Valentines DayRomantic PoetryWeddings And LoveCute Valentines DayValentine PhrasesValentines Day CardsWedding PoetryBe My ValentineSweet ValentineReading PoetryGreat WeddingValentines Day SpecialCute ValentineWedding Invitation LoveBest PoetryDepth Of LovePoetry By Famous PoetsLove VowsCute BoyfriendBest-love-poems .Greatest PoetryFamous Love PoemFebruary LoveWedding PhrasesValentine SpecialWedding Blessings
Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Create image

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.”

WayLoveSoulEndsFeelingsPoetryGraceIdealsLet MeSightDepthMy SoulTheeHeightEngagementValentineBeing In LoveVowSonnetBoyfriendLove PoemsBeing LovedFamous LoveBreadthMy BoyfriendWedding CeremonyWords LoveGreat PoetryLove For HerRomantic Valentines DayWedding VowSt ValentineYour BoyfriendHappy ValentinesValentine PhrasesWedding PoetryBe My ValentineWriting PoemsDeath PoemsGreat WeddingCute ValentineWedding Invitation LoveBest PoetryDepth Of LovePoetry By Famous PoetsLove VowsMarriage VowsCute BoyfriendBest-love-poems .Greatest PoetryFamous Love PoemAlex SheathesLove LineLove Being With YouMarriage CeremonyWedding Blessings2 Word Love
Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Create image

“It is not merely the likeness which is precious... but the association and the sense of nearness involved in the thing... the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever! It is the very sanctification of portraits I think - and it is not at all monstrous in me to say that I would rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest Artist's work ever produced.”

ThinkingLovePersonsFactsLyingArtistForeverInvolvedPhotographyShadowFixedAssociationPortraitsMemorialMonstrousSanctification
Book:Elizabeth Barrett to Miss Mitford: the unpublished letters of Elizabeth Barrett Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford
Create image

“I f thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love's sake only. Do not say, I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way Of speaking gently ... for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and, certes, brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day- For these things in themselves, Beloved, may Be changed, or change for thee-and love so wrought, May be unwrought so.”

WayLoveWellsLooksMayFallChangedMinesAnd LoveSakeTricksTheeEaseBelovedPleasantHer SmileWedding Poetry
Book:Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning: From the Last London Edition
Create image

“The sweetest lives are those to duty wed, Whose deeds, both great and small Are close-knot strands of an unbroken thread There love ennobles all. The world may sound no trumpets, ring no bells The book of life the shining record tells. Thy love shall chant its own beatitudes After its own life-workings. A child's kiss Set on thy sighing lips shall make thee glad; A poor man served by thee shall make thee rich; A sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong; Thou shalt serve thyself by every sense, Of service which thou renderest.”

MenWorldLoveLifeMayChildrenBookStrongSoundPoorRichRecordsDutyKissingSickShiningLipsDeedsRingsGladTheeBellsThreadThyselfSweetestTrumpetsKnotsPoor ManStrandsUnbrokenSick ManBook Of Life
Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Create image