Quotes by Lord Byron

...And these vicissitudes come best in youth;
For when they happen at a riper age,
People are apt to blame the Fates, forsooth,
And wonder Providence is not more sage.
Adversity is the first path to truth:
He who hath proved war, storm, or woman's rage,
Whether his winters be eighteen or eighty,
Has won experience which is deem'd so weighty.

Philosophy is a blind man in a dark room, searching for a black hat that isn't there.

Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water! Ye happy mixture of more happy days!

             
She walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Opinions are made to be changed - or how is truth to be got at?

On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined!

Once more upon the waters! yet once more! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider.

On the ear Drops the light drip of the suspended oar.

Oh why should the spirit of mortal be proud? Like a fast-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, He passes from life to his rest in the grave.

Oh that the desert were my dwelling-place, With one fair spirit for my minister, William Knox. 1789-1825.