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Alfred Lord Tennyson Quotes about Lying

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A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.

A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Truth, Lying, Deceit
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.1248, Delphi Classics

A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Lying, Half, Truth Is
"The Darkest of All Lies" by Michael L. (Mikey) Weinstein, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 10, 2012.

Oh for someone with a heart, head and hand. Whatever they call them, what do I care, aristocrat, democrat, autocrat, just be it one that can rule and dare not lie.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Truth, Honesty, Lying

Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Music, Lying, Tired
'The Lotos-Eaters' (1832) Choric Song, st. 1

He that shuts love out, in turn shall be Shut out from love, and on her threshold lie, Howling in outer darkness.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Love, Sad, Lying
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.2331, Delphi Classics

Ah, when shall all men's good Be each man's rule, and universal peace Lie like a shaft of light across the land, And like a lane of beams athwart the sea, Thro' all the circle of the golden year?

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Peace, Lying, Men
'The Golden Year' (1846) l. 47

I am going a long way With these thou seëst-if indeed I go (For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)- To the island-valley of Avilion, Where falls not hail or rain or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea, Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Happiness, Summer, Lying
'Idylls of the King' (1842-85) 'The Passing of Arthur' (1869) l. 424

Come not, when I am dead, To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave, To trample round my fallen head, And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save. There let the wind sweep and the plover cry; But thou, go by. Child, if it were thine error or thy crime I care no longer, being all unblest; Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of Time, And I desire to rest. Pass on, weak heart, and leave me where I lie: Go by, go by.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Time, Children, Lying
'Come not, when I am dead' (1850)

She sleeps: her breathings are not heard In palace chambers far apart. The fragrant tresses are not stirr'd That lie upon her charmed heart She sleeps: on either hand upswells The gold-fringed pillow lightly prest: She sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells A perfect form in perfect rest.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Dream, Lying, Heart

Every man at time of Death, Would fain set forth some saying that may live After his death and better humankind; For death gives life's last word a power to live, And, lie the stone-cut epitaph, remain After the vanished voice, and speak to men.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Death, Lying, Cutting
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1875). “Queen Mary. A Drama”, p.204

Nature, so far as in her lies, imitates God.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Lying
Lord Alfred Tennyson (2012). “Tennyson: Poems”, p.201, Everyman's Library

Full knee-deep lies the winter snow, And the winter winds are wearily sighing: Toll ye the church bell sad and slow, And tread softly and speak low, For the old year lies a-dying. Old year you must not die; You came to us so readily, You lived with us so steadily, Old year you shall not die.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Lying, Winter, Church Bells
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Illustrated)”, p.348, Delphi Classics

But for the unquiet heart and brain A use in measured language lies; The sad mechanic exercise Like dull narcotics numbing pain.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Pain, Lying, Heart
'In Memoriam A. H. H.' (1850) canto 5

That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright, But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Lying, Fighting, May
'The Grandmother' (1859) st. 8

There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass, Or night-dews on still waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tir'd eyelids upon tir'd eyes; Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies. Here are cool mosses deep, And thro' the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Sweet, Wall, Lying
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Walt Whitman (2010). “English Poetry III: Tennyson to Whitman: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. XLII (in 51 Volumes)”, p.1028, Cosimo, Inc.

I sometimes hold it half a sin To put in words the grief I feel For words, like nature, half reveal And half conceal the soul within. But, for the unquiet heart and brain A use measured language lie's The sad mechanic exercise Like dull narcotic's, numbing pain In words, like weeds, I'll wrap me o'er Like coarsest clothes against the cold But large grief which these enfold Is given in outline and no more.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Weed, Pain, Lying
1850 In Memoriam A.H.H., canto 5, l.1-8.

The woods decay, the woods decay and fall, The vapours weep their burthen to the ground, Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath, And after many summer dies the swan. Me only cruel immortality Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms, Here at the quiet limit of the world.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Summer, Death, Lying
'Tithonus' (1860, revised 1864) l. 1

Live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurled Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curled Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
Lying, Clouds, House
'The Lotos-Eaters' (1832) Choric Song, st. 8 (1842 revision)

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