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Alfred Lord Tennyson Quotes about Life

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'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Love, Funny, Life
In Memoriam canto 27 (1850) See Congreve 7

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Education, Wise
'Locksley Hall' (1842) l. 141

Love's arms were wreathed about the neck of Hope, And Hope kiss'd Love, and Love drew in her breath In that close kiss and drank her whisper'd tales. They said that Love would die when Hope was gone. And Love mourn'd long, and sorrow'd after Hope; At last she sought out Memory, and they trod The same old paths where Love had walked with Hope, And Memory fed the soul of Love with tears.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Memories, Kissing
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.373, Delphi Classics

Life is not as idle ore, But iron dug from central gloom, And heated hot with burning fears, And dipt in baths of hissing tears, And batter'd with the shocks of doom, To shape and use.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Iron, Tears
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.840, Delphi Classics

And on her lover's arm she leant, And round her waist she felt it fold, And far across the hills they went In that new world which is the old.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, World, Arms
Alfred Tennyson Tennyson, Baron, Alfred Lord Tennyson (2014). “Fifty Poems”, p.130, Cambridge University Press

For love reflects the thing beloved.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Beloved
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2014). “In Memoriam”, p.80, Broadview Press

I loved you, and my love had no return, And therefore my true love has been my death.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Return, I Loved You
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.1099, Delphi Classics

There has fallen a splendid tear From the passion-flower at the gate. She is coming, my dove, my dear; She is coming, my life, my fate; The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;" And the white rose weeps, "She is late;" The larkspur listens, "I hear; I hear;" And the lily whispers, "I wait."

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Flower, Passion
'Maud' (1855) pt. 1, sect. 22, st. 10

My doom is, I love thee still. Let no man dream but that I love thee still.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Dream, Men
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2012). “Idylls of the King”, p.243, Courier Corporation

Love's too precious to be lost, A little grain shall not be spilt.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Littles, Lost
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2014). “In Memoriam”, p.86, Broadview Press

How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Shining, Age
'Ulysses' (1842) l. 6

Sweet is true love though given in vain, in vain; And sweet is death who puts an end to pain: I know not which is sweeter, no, not I. Love, art thou sweet? then bitter death must be: Love, thou art bitter; sweet is death to me. O Love, if death be sweeter, let me die. ... I fain would follow love, if that could be; I needs must follow death, who calls for me; Call and I follow, I follow! let me die.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Sweet, Art
Alfred Lord Tennyson (2013). “Idylls of the King”, p.159, Simon and Schuster

Love will conquer at the last.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Lasts, Conquer
"Locksley Hall Sixty Years After". Poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1886.

I sometimes find it half a sin, To put to words the grief i feel, For words like nature,half reveal, and half conceal the soul within.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Grief, Soul
1850 In Memoriam A.H.H., canto 5, l.1-8.

She is coming, my own, my sweet; Were it ever so airy a tread, My heart would hear her and beat, Were it earth in an earthly bed; My dust would hear her and beat, Had I lain for a century dead; Would start and tremble under her feet, And blossom in purple and red.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Sweet, Heart
'Maud' (1855) pt. 1, sect. 22, st. 10

Yet is there one true line, the pearl of pearls: Man dreams of Fame while woman wakes to love.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Dream, Men
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.1057, Delphi Classics

The long mechanic pacings to and fro, The set, gray life, and apathetic end.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Long, Mechanic
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.453, Delphi Classics

So dear a life your arms enfold, Whose crying is a cry for gold.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Gold, Arms
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.916, Delphi Classics

I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Drink
"Ulysses" l. 6 (1842)

. . . More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheeps or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Not only for themselves but for those who call them friend? For so this whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Dream, Prayer
'Idylls of the King' (1842-85) 'The Passing of Arthur' (1869) l. 414

The white flower of a blameless life.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Flower, White
'Idylls of the King' (1842-85) Dedication (1862) l. 24

Lady, for indeed I loved you and I deemed you beautiful, I cannot brook to see your beauty marred Through evil spite: and if ye love me not, I cannot bear to dream you so forsworn: I had liefer ye were worthy of my love, Than to be loved again of you - farewell; And though ye kill my hope, not yet my love, Vex not yourself: ye will not see me more.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Beautiful, Dream
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.1133, Delphi Classics

You, methinks you think you love me well; For me, I love you somewhat; rest: and Love Should have some rest and pleasure in himself, Not ever be too curious for a boon, Too prurient for a proof against the grain Of him ye say ye love: but Fame with men, Being but ampler means to serve mankind, Should have small rest or pleasure in herself, But work as vassal to the larger love, That dwarfs the petty love of one to one.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Love You, Mean
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.1057, Delphi Classics

Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, Before a thousand peering littlenesses, In that fierce light which beats upon a throne, And blackens every blot.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, Flower, Light
'Idylls of the King' (1842-85) Dedication (1862) l. 24

We love but while we may; And therefore is my love so large for thee, Seeing it is not bounded save by love.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Life, May, Thee
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2012). “Idylls of the King”, p.228, Courier Corporation

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