The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

‘Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art’ (1819)
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.
‘Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art’ (1819)
The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone!
Sweet voice, sweet lips, soft hand, and softer breast.
‘The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone’ (written 1819)
The imagination of a boy is healthy, and the mature imagination of a man is healthy; but there
is a space of life between, in which the soul is in a ferment, the character undecided, the way of
life uncertain, the ambition thick-sighted: thence proceeds mawkishness.
‘Endymion’ (1818) preface
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
‘Endymion’ (1818) bk. 1, l. 1
The grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead.
‘Endymion’ (1818) bk. 1, l. 20
They alway must be with us, or we die.
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Who, of men, can tell
That flowers would bloom, or that green fruit would swell
To melting pulp, that fish would have bright mail,
The earth its dower of river, wood, and vale,
The meadows runnels, runnels pebble-stones,
The seed its harvest, or the lute its tones,
Tones ravishment, or ravishment its sweet,
If human souls did never kiss and greet?
‘Endymion’ (1818) bk. 1, l. 835
Here is wine,
Alive with sparkles—never, I aver,
Since Ariadne was a vintager,
So cool a purple.
‘Endymion’ (1818) bk. 2, l. 441
To Sorrow,
I bade good-morrow,
And thought to leave her far away behind;
But cheerly, cheerly,