30 Prodigious Alfred Tennyson Quotes
Alfred Tennyson (born August 6, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England – died October 6, 1892, Lurgashall, Sussex, England), also known as Alfred Lord Tennyson, was one of the leading poets of the Victorian era.
As a gifted poet, Tennyson wrote many great works. Some of them include Ulysses (written 1833, published 1842), Break, Break, Break (written 1835, published 1842), Tears, Idle Tears (1847), In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854), Idylls of the King (1859 – 1885), Tithonus (written 1833, published 1860), and Crossing the Bar (1889).
Queen Victoria’s poet laureate, from 1850 until his death, Tennyson is still one of the most popular English poets.
Below is a selection of some of Tennyson’s best quotes with sources and images.
‘T is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.In Memoriam A.H.H. (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1950), Canto XXVII, Page 44
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.Ulysses (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 91
Their’s not to reason why, their’s but to do and die.The Charge of the Light Brigade (1854); in Maud, and Other Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1855), Page 151
I am a part of all that I have met.Ulysses (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 89
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.Locksley Hall (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 106
A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.The Grandmother (1864); in Enoch Arden and Other Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1864), Page 118
Better not be at all than not be noble.The Princess: A Medley (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1847), Page 34
Who are wise in love, love most, say least.Merlin and Vivien (1859); in Idylls of the King (Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., ed. 1891), Page 154
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.Ulysses (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 90
Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come whispering ‘it will be happier.’The Foresters or, Robin Hood and Maid Marian (1892), (Macmillan & Co., ed. 1892), Page 33
Authority forgets a dying king.Morte D'Arthur (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 9
Man dreams of Fame while woman wakes to love.Merlin and Vivien (1859); in Idylls of the King (Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., ed. 1891), Page 162
Shape your heart to front the hour, but dream not that the hours will last.Locksley Hall Sixtry Years After (Macmillan & Co., ed. 1886), Page 16
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Nature, red in tooth and claw.In Memoriam A.H.H. (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1950), Canto LV, Page 80
My strength is as the strength of ten, because my heart is pure.Sir Galahad (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 174
By blood a king, at heart a clown.In Memoriam A.H.H. (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1950), Canto CIX, Page 171
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink life to the lees.Ulysses (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 88
Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?The Higher Pantheism (1867); in The Holy Grail and Other Poems (Strahan & Co., 1870), Page 201
Too much wit makes the world rotten.The Last Tournament (1971); in Idylls of the King (Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., ed. 1891), Page 295
The old order changeth, yielding place to new.Morte D'Arthur (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 15
Words, like Nature, half reveal and half conceal the Soul within.In Memoriam A.H.H. (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1950), Canto V, Page 5
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! As tho’ to breathe were life.Ulysses (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 89
For man is man and master of his fate.Geraint and Enid (1859); in Idylls of the King (Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., ed. 1891), Page 94
Once in a golden hour I cast to earth a seed. Up there came a flower, the people said, a weed.The Flower (1842); in Enoch Arden and Other Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1864), Page 152
The shell must break before the bird can fly.The Ancient Sage (1885); in Tiresias and Other Poems (Macmillan & Co., ed. 1885), Page 63
Men at most differ as Heaven and earth, but women, worst and best, as Heaven and Hell.Merlin and Vivien (1859); in Idylls of the King (Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., ed. 1891), Page 174
We dare not even by silence sanction lies.The Third of February, 1852 (1852); in The Poetical Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (H. B. Nims & Co., ed. 1886), Page 151
The many fail: the one succeeds.The Day-Dream (1842); in Poems (Edward Moxon & Co., ed. 1842), Volume II, Page 154
Disputed
No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not knock those who work with him. Don’t knock your friends. Don’t knock your enemies. Don’t knock yourself.No source
Misattributed
If I had a single flower for every time I think of you, I could walk forever in my garden.Claudia Adrienne Grandi, The Rockmart Journal (1992), Page 10A
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.David Evans Macdonnel, A Dictionary Of Quotations, In Most Frequent Use (1809)
FAQs
"‘T is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
"Ulysses, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and In Memoriam A.H.H."
"Ulysses"
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