Top 197 Quotes & Sayings by Robert Burns - Page 3

Who made the heart, 'tis He alone Decidedly can try us

The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip To haud the wretch in order; But where ye feel your honour grip, Let that aye be your border.

Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet To think how monie counsels sweet, How monie lengthened sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises.

Mankind is an unco squad And muckle he may grieve thee.

All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn, Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn.

Your lines, I maintain it, are poetry, and good poetry.... Friendship... had I been so blest as to have met with you in time, might have led me - God of love only knows where.

The great Creator to revere Must sure become the creature; But still the preaching cant forbear, And ev'n the rigid feature: Yet ne'er with wits profane to range Be complaisance extended;An atheist laugh's a poor exchange For deity offended.

What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted.

But deep this truth impressed my mind — Thro' all his works abroad, The heart benevolent and kind The most resembles God.

It is cruelty to be humane to rebels, and humanity is cruelty.

Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure Thrill the deepest notes of woe.

What's a' your jargon o' your schools, Your Latin names for horns and stools; If honest nature made you fools.

Morality, thou deadly bane, Thy tens o' thousands thou hast slain! Vain is his hope, whose stay an' trust is In moral mercy, truth, and justice!

Their sighing, canting, grace-proud faces, their three-mile prayers, and half-mile graces.

A man's a man for a' that. . . . . A prince can mak a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man's aboon his might, Guid faith he mauna fa' that! . . . Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that, That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth, May bear the gree and a' that. For a' that, and a' that, It's comin' yet, for a' that, When man to man, the world o'er, Shall brithers be for a' that.

For thus the royal mandate ran, When first the human race began, "The social, friendly honest man, Whate'er he be, Tis he fulfils great Nature's plan, And none but he!"

Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die.

And let us mind, faint heart ne'er wan A lady fair. Wha does the utmost that he can Will whyles do mair.

If there 's a hole in a' your coats, I rede ye tent it; A chiel 's amang ye takin' notes, And, faith, he 'll prent it.

Even every ray of hope destroyed and not a wish to gild the gloom.

Love's first snow-drop, virgin kiss.

When Nature her great masterpiece designed,And framed her last, best work, the human mind,Her eye intent on all the wondrous plan,She formed of various stuff the various Man.

Oatcakes are a delicate relish when eaten warm with ale.

Yon rosebuds in the morning-dew, how pure amang the leaves sae green!

The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that.

Why has a religious turn of mind always a tendency to narrow and harden the heart?

But little Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often askew, And leave us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy! Still you are blest, compared with me!

Pharmaceutical projects are like fresh fruit - they depreciate if they are not tended to, and they do poorly if sitting on the shelf with long periods of inactivity.

I waive the quantum o' the sin, The hazard of concealing; But, och! it hardens a' within, And petrifies the feeling!

Dweller in yon dungeon dark, Hangman of creation, mark! Who in widow weeds appears, Laden with unhonoured years, Noosing with care a bursting purse, Baited with many a deadly curse?

Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase 'Auld Lang Syne' exceedingly expressive? I shall give you the verses on the other sheet. The words of 'Auld Lang Syne' are good, but the music is an old air, the rudiments of the modern tune of that name. ... Dare to be honest and fear no labor. ... Opera is where a man gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings. ... Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure thrill the deepest notes of woe. ... Critics! Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane In proving foresight may be vain The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promis'd joy!

To make three guineas do the work of five.

Misled by fancy's meteor ray, By passion driven; But yet the light that led astray Was light from heaven.

That hour o' night's black arch the keystane.

Gin a body meet a body Coming thro' the rye, Gin a body kiss a body— Need a body cry?

Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold, Of noble enterprise, For if you do but taste his blood, 'Twill make your courage rise, Twill make a man forget his wo; 'Twill heighten all his joy.

Ambition is a meteor-gleam; Fame a restless airy dream; Pleasures, insects on the wing Round Peace, th' tend rest flow'r of spring.

When chill November's surly blast Made fields and forests bare.

Humid seal of soft affections, Tend'rest pledge of future bliss, Dearest tie of young connections, Love's first snow-drop, virgin kiss.

In durance vile 1here must I wake and weep, And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep.

If Heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare, One cordial in this melancholy vale, 'T is when a youthful, loving, modest pair In other's arms breathe out the tender tale

I'll be merry and free, I'll be sad for nae-body; If nae-body cares for me, I'll care for nae-body.

For gold the merchant ploughs the main, The farmer ploughs the manor.

Nae man can tether time or tide; The hour approachesTam maun ride; That hour, o'night's black arch the key-stane, That dreary hourTam mounts his beast in.

The lightly-jumping, glowrin' trouts, That thro' my waters play.

A prince can mak a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and a' that; But an honest man's aboon his might: Guid faith, he maunna fa' that.

Oh, stay, sweet warbling woodlark, stay, Nor quit for me the trembling spray, A hapless lover courts thy lay, Thy soothing, fond complaining.

Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.--Robert Burns

It's hardly in a body's pow'r,To keep, at times, frae being sour.

O, Life! how pleasant is thy morning, Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning! Cold pausing Caution's lesson scorning, We frisk away, Like schoolboys, at the expected warning, To joy and play.

Never generally means "at no point in time." The term comes from the words 'no' and 'ever', meaning that something is not ever going to happen. Sourced

Even thou who mournst the daisy's fate, That fate is thine--no distant date; Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives, elate, Full on thy bloom, Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight Shall be thy doom!

Great for good, or great for evil.

Now simmer blinks on flowery braes, And o'er the crystal streamlet plays.

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!

As Tammie glow'red, amazed and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious.

Good Lord, what is man! for as simple he looks, Do but try to develop his books and his crooks, With his depths and his shallows, his good and his evil, All in all, he's a problem must puzzle the devil.

By Oppression's woes and pains! By your sons in servile chains! We will drain our dearest veins, But they shall be free! Lay the proud usurpers low! Tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty's in every blow! Let us do or die!