William Cullen Bryant Quotes

William Cullen Bryant

Profession : Poet

Birth : November 3, 1794

There is no glory in star or blossom till looked upon by a loving eye; There is no fragrance in April breezes till breathed with joy as they wander by.

William Cullen Bryant

The groves were God's first temples.

William Cullen Bryant

Go forth under the open sky, and list To Nature's teachings.

William Cullen Bryant

The little windflower, whose just opened eye is blue as the spring heaven it gazes at.

William Cullen Bryant

Where hast thou wandered, gentle gale, to find the perfumes thou dost bring?

William Cullen Bryant

Poetry is that art which selects and arranges the symbols of thought in such a manner as to excite the imagination the most powerfully and delightfully.

William Cullen Bryant

A beautiful city is Richmond, seated on the hills that overlook the James River. The dwellings have a pleasant appearance, often standing by themselves in the midst of gardens. In front of several, I saw large magnolias, their dark, glazed leaves glittering in the March sunshine.

William Cullen Bryant

Eloquence is the poetry of prose.

William Cullen Bryant

Pain dies quickly, and lets her weary prisoners go; the fiercest agonies have shortest reign.

William Cullen Bryant

Loveliest of lovely things are they on earth that soonest pass away. The rose that lives its little hour is prized beyond the sculptured flower.

William Cullen Bryant

And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief, and the year smiles as it draws near its death.

William Cullen Bryant

The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within.

William Cullen Bryant

A sculptor wields The chisel, and the stricken marble grows To beauty.

William Cullen Bryant

Thine eyes are springs in whose serene And silent waters heaven is seen. Their lashes are the herbs that look On their young figures in the brook.

William Cullen Bryant

Weep not that the world changes - did it keep a stable, changeless state, it were cause indeed to weep.

William Cullen Bryant

To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language.

William Cullen Bryant

Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase are fruits of innocence and blessedness.

William Cullen Bryant

Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness - a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster - children into strength and athletic proportion.

William Cullen Bryant

All that tread, the globe are but a handful to the tribes, that slumber in its bosom.

William Cullen Bryant

Nothing can be more striking to one who is accustomed to the little inclosures called public parks in our American cities, than the spacious, open grounds of London. I doubt, in fact, whether any person fully comprehends their extent, from any of the ordinary descriptions of them, until he has seen them or tried to walk over them.

William Cullen Bryant