William Allingham > Quotes

“Writing is learning to say nothing, more cleverly each day.”
― William Allingham

“Not like Homer would I write,
Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
Like myself, or not at all.”
― William Allingham, Blackberries

“Round the world and home again, that's the sailor's way!”
― William Allingham

“Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men.”
― William Allingham, The Fairies

“By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees
For pleasure here and there.
If any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.”
― William Allingham, The Fairies

“Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt.”
― William Allingham, Day and night songs

“No funeral gloom, my dears, when I am gone
Corpse-gazing, tears, black raiment, graveyard grimness
Think of me as withdrawn into the dimness
Yours still, you mine, remember all the best
Of our past moments, and forget the rest
And so, to where I wait, come gently on.”
― William Allingham

“Is idleness indeed so black a crime?
What are the Busy doing, half their time?”
― William Allingham, Blackberries

“In youth audacity is wise”
― William Allingham, Blackberries

“Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting. For fear of little men”
― William Allingham