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Quotes & Poems

Inspirational quotes from poems and classic literature

Updated

The best lines in English poetry and fiction have lasted for centuries because they say something true in very few words. This page gathers famous lines from classic poems and novels, and every one has been checked against a public-domain copy of the original book. You get the exact wording, who wrote it, where and when - and, where it helps, who actually says it.

Famous lines from poems

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate"
- William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 (1609)

One of the best-known opening lines in English poetry. The full poem is on our love poems page.

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness"
- John Keats, Endymion, Book I (1818)

The first lines of Keats's long poem. Beautiful things don't fade in value; they grow on us.

"I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills"
- William Wordsworth, Poems, in Two Volumes (1807)

The opening of the poem everyone calls "Daffodils" - quoted here in its original 1807 spelling.

"'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."
- Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam (1850), section XXVII

Written in grief for Arthur Henry Hallam, who died in 1833. It is about any deep love lost, not only romance.

Inspirational quotes from classic literature

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will"
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XXIII (1847)

Jane says this to Mr Rochester. A favourite line about self-respect and making your own choices.

"the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts"
- George Eliot, Middlemarch, Finale (1871-72)

From the last paragraph of the novel: the world is made better by many people doing quiet good that history never records.

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance", Essays (1841)

Emerson's case for following your own judgement rather than the crowd.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath."
- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I (written about 1596-98)

Portia's famous speech: mercy can't be forced - it falls freely, like gentle rain.

Quotes about hope

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast"
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I (1733-34)

Where the everyday saying comes from.

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul"
- Emily Dickinson, Poems, Second Series (1891)

Read the full 12-line poem on our short poems page.

Quotes about courage

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
- Alfred Tennyson, "Ulysses" (1842)

The closing line of the poem, spoken by an old traveller setting out again.

"I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship."
- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Part 2, Chapter 44 (1869)

Often shared as Alcott's own motto, but in the novel it is Amy March who says it, talking about her new marriage. A good example of why we check the source.

Lines for cards and speeches

  • Wedding or anniversary: "Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be" - Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra" (1864)
  • Love note: "O my Luve's like a red, red rose" - Robert Burns (1794)
  • Graduation or new job: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, / Or what's a heaven for?" - Robert Browning, "Andrea del Sarto" (1855)
  • Get-well or hard times: "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" - Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind" (1820)
  • Thank-you card: "His little, nameless, unremembered acts / Of kindness and of love" - William Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey" (1798)

Two short lines of our own, free for cards:

"Some days the bravest thing
is to put the kettle on and begin again."
- Original - Quotes and Poems

"Good words travel further than you send them."
- Original - Quotes and Poems

How we check a quote

  1. Find the original work. We open a public-domain copy of the book the line is supposed to come from - a Project Gutenberg text, a Wikisource transcription or an archive.org scan.
  2. Search for the exact words. If the line isn't there, it doesn't go on the site, however often it's shared online.
  3. Check who says it. In plays and novels, a line may belong to a character, not the author (like Amy March above, or Portia in The Merchant of Venice).
  4. Record author, work and year, and link the copy we used.
  5. Public domain only. The author must have died before 1955 and the work must have been first published before 1931.

Quotes by topic

FAQ

What are the most famous lines in English poetry?

There's no official list, but five that are quoted again and again are: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, 1609); "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" (Pope, An Essay on Man, 1733-34); "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever" (Keats, Endymion, 1818); "I wandered lonely as a Cloud" (Wordsworth, 1807); and "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all" (Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1850).

Are these quotes real?

Yes. Each one is copied from a public-domain copy of the original work (Project Gutenberg, Wikisource or archive.org) and shows the author, work and year. Popular lines we can't find in the source are left out.

Can I use a quote in a speech or a card?

Yes - these are all in the public domain. Please credit the author and the work. See our terms of use.

Sources

Not the former quotesandpoems.com - an independent collection of public-domain poems and original writing.