Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“The heart doth recognise thee,Alone, alone! The heart doth smell thee sweet,Doth view thee fair, doth judge thee most complete,—-Though seeing now those changes that disguise thee.”

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of being and ideal grace.I love thee to the level of every day'sMost quiet need, by sun and candle-light.I love thee freely, as men strive for right.I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.I love thee with the passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.”

“Our Euripides the human,With his droppings of warm tears,and his touchings of things common Till they rose to meet the spheres.”

“The beautiful seems right by force of beauty and the feeble wrong because of weakness.”

“God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers, And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face, A gauntlet with a gift in it.”

“I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.”

“Since when was genius found respectable?”

“And yet, because I love thee, I obtainFrom that same love this vindicating grace,To live on still in love, and yet in vain”

“The picture of helpless indolence she calls herselfsublimely helpless and impotentI had done living I thoughtWas ever life so like death before? My face was so close against the tombstones, that there seemed no room for tears.”

“A woman is always younger than a man at equal years.”

“Yes," I answered you last night;"No," this morning, sir, I say.Colours seen by candlelightWill not look the same by day.”

“Who so loves believes the impossible.”

“Better farPursue a frivolous trade by serious means,Than a sublime art frivolously.”

“How, Dearest, wilt thou have me for most use?A hope, to sing by gladly? or a fineSad memory, with thy songs to interfuse?A shade, in which to sing—of palm or pine?A grave, on which to rest from singing? Choose.”

“At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.”

“God's gifts put men's best dreams to shame.”

“You're something between a dream and a miracle.”

“Light tomorrow with today!”

“I tell you hopeless grief is passionless,That only men incredulous of despair,Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight airBeat upward to God’s throne in loud accessOf shrieking and reproach. Full desertnessIn souls, as countries, lieth silent-bareUnder the blanching, vertical eye-glareOf the absolute heavens. Deep-hearted man, expressGrief for thy dead in silence like to death— Most like a monumental statue setIn everlasting watch and moveless woeTill itself crumble to the dust beneath.Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet;If it could weep, it could arise and go.”

“Earth's crammed with heaven...But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.”