Christina Rossetti
31 quotes
Biography
"She gave up beauty in her tender youth, gave all her hope and joy and pleasant ways; she covered up her eyes lest they should gaze on vanity, and chose the bitter truth."
"Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth."
"For there is no friend like a sisterIn calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, To fetch one if one goes astray,To lift one if one totters down, To strengthen whilst one stands"
"Ah me, but where are now the songs I sangWhen life was sweet because you call’d them sweet?"
"What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow.What are brief? today and tomorrow.What are frail? spring blossoms and youth.What are deep? the ocean and truth."
"In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago."
"Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine."
"I lock my door upon myself, And bar them out; but who shall wall Self from myself, most loathed of all?"
"Fair as the moon and joyful as the light;Tot wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;Not as she is, but as she fills his dreams."
"For if the darkness and corruption leaveA vestige of the thoughts that once I had,Better by far you should forget and smileThan that you should remember and be sad."
"Obedience is the fruit of faith."
"Better by far you should forget and smile that you should remember and be sad."
"Better by far you should forget and smile that you should remember and be sad."
"He feeds upon her face by day and night,And she with true kind eyes looks back on him,Fair as the moon and joyful as the light:Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;Not as she is, but as she fills his dream."
"Promise me no promises, So will I not promise you: Keep we both our liberties, Never false and never true: Let us hold the die uncast, Free to come as free to go: For I cannot know your past, And of mine what can you know?"
"Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes work never begun."
"Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart; My silent heart, lie still and break: Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changed For a dream's sake."
"Where there are no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank."
"All others are outside myself;I lock my door and bar them outThe turmoil, tedium, gad-about.I lock my door upon myself,And bar them out; but who shall wallSelf from myself, most loathed of all?If I could once lay down myself,And start self-purged upon the raceThat all must run ! Death runs apace."
"Who shall tell the lady's griefWhen her Cat was past relief?Who shall number the hot tearsShed o'er her, beloved for years?Who shall say the dark dismayWhich her dying caused that day?"
"Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun."
"For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands."
"My heart is like a singing bird."
"Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts, and no one thank."
"Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end."