Top 35 Quotes & Sayings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Last updated on April 21, 2025.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was an English poet, illustrator, painter, and translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement, most notably William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.

Love is the last relay and ultimate outposts of eternity.
The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.
Conception, my boy, fundamental brain work, is what makes all the difference in art.
Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.
Was it a friend or foe that spread these lies; Nay, who but infants question in such wise, twas one of my most intimate enemies.
I have been here before, But when or how I cannot tell: I know the grass beyond the door, The sweet keen smell, The sighing sound, the lights around the shore. ... You have been mine before, How long ago I may not know: But just when at that swallow's soar Your neck turned so, Some veil did fall - I knew it all of yore. Has this been thus before? And shall not thus time's eddying flight Still with our lives our love restore In death's despite, And day and night yield one delight once more
I plucked a honeysuckle where The hedge on high is quick with thorn, And climbing for the prize, was torn, And fouled my feet in quag-water; And by the thorns and by the wind The blossom that I took was thinn'd, And yet I found it sweet and fair.
Unto the man of yearning thought And aspiration, to do nought Is in itself almost an act. — © Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Unto the man of yearning thought And aspiration, to do nought Is in itself almost an act.
And Love, our light at night and shade at noon,Lulls us to rest with songs, and turns awayAll shafts of shelterless tumultuous day.
Places that are empty of you are empty of life.
The sea hath no king but God alone.
Sometimes thou seem'st not as thyself alone, But as the meaning of all things that are.
Beauty without the beloved is a like a sword through the heart.
Tell me now in what hidden way isLady Flora the lovely Roman?Where's Hipparchia, and where is Thais,Neither of them the fairer woman?Where is Echo, beheld of no man,Only heard on river and mere-She whose beauty was more than human?-But where are the snows of yester-year?
Sudden Light I have been here before, But when or how I cannot tell: I know the grass beyond the door, The sweet keen smell, The sighing sound, the light around the shore.
I do not see them here; but after death God knows I know the faces I shall see, Each one a murdered self, with low last breath. 'I am thyself,what hast thou done to me?' 'And Iand Ithyself,' (lo! each one saith,) 'And thou thyself to all eternity!
Her hair that lay along her back Was yellow like ripe corn.
Give honour unto Luke Evangelist; For he it was (the aged legends say) Who first taught Art to fold her hands and pray. — © Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Give honour unto Luke Evangelist; For he it was (the aged legends say) Who first taught Art to fold her hands and pray.
This sunlight shames November where he grieves In dead red leaves, and will not let him shun The day, though bough with bough be overrun. But with a blessing every glade receives High salutation.
Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky: So this winged hour is dropt to us from above. Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower, This close-companioned inarticulate hour When twofold silence was the song of love.
From perfect grief there need not beWisdom or even memory;One thing then learned remains to me -The woodspurge has a cup of three. — © Dante Gabriel Rossetti
From perfect grief there need not beWisdom or even memory;One thing then learned remains to me -The woodspurge has a cup of three.
At length their long kiss severed, with sweet smart:And as the last slow sudden drops are shedFrom sparkling eaves when all the storm has fled,So singly flagged the pulses of each heart.
You have been mine before - How long ago I may not know: But just when at that swallow's soar, your neck turned so, Some veil did fall, - I knew it all of yore.
Gather a shell from the strewn beach And listen at its lips: they sigh The same desire and mystery, The echo of the whole sea's speech.
Beauty like hers is genius.
Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been; I am also call'd No-more, Too-late, Farewell.
Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.
Still we say as we go,-"Strange to think by the wayWhatever there is to know,That shall we know one day.
I am not as these are, the poet saithIn youth's pride, and the painter, among menAt bay, where never pencil comes nor pem
If God in his wisdom have brought closeThe day when I must die,That day by water or fire or airMy feet shall fall in the destined snareWherever my road may lie.
It is beautiful, the world, and life itself. I am glad I have lived. — © Dante Gabriel Rossetti
It is beautiful, the world, and life itself. I am glad I have lived.
Your eyes smile peace.
The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!
So Spring comes merry towards me here, but earns No answering smile from me, whose life is twin'd With the dead boughs that winter still must bind, And whom today the Spring no more concerns. Behold, this crocus is a withering flame; This snowdrop, snow; this apple-blossom's part To breed the fruit that breeds the serpent's art. Nay, for these Spring-flowers, turn thy face from them, Nor stay till on the year's last lily-stem The white cup shrivels round the golden heart.
Love, which is quickly kindled in the gentle heart, seized this man for the fair form that was taken from me, the manner still hurts me. Love which absolves no beloved one from loving, seized me so strongly with his charm that, as thou seest, it does not leave me yet
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!