Francis Thompson Quotes

• An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident.

  Francis Thompson

  Christian, Atheist, Believe

  57 Copy quote

• All things by immortal power. Near of far, to each other linked are, that thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.

  Francis Thompson

  Stars, Flower, Power

  Francis Thompson (1910). “Selected poems”

  23 Copy quote

• Nothing begins, and nothing ends, That is not paid with moan; For we are born in others pain And perish in our own.

  Francis Thompson

  Pain, Ends, Born

  'Daisy' (1913)

  13 Copy quote

• Agnosticism is the everlasting perhaps.

  Francis Thompson

  Everlasting, Agnosticism

  "A Renegade Poet and Other Essays" by Francis Thompson, Boston: The Ball Publishing Co., (p. 47), 1910.

  13 Copy quote

• Oh invisible, we view thee, O world intangible, we touch thee, o world unknowable, we know thee.

  Francis Thompson

  Women, Views, World

  'The Kingdom of God' (1913)

  9 Copy quote

• Thou cannot stir a flower Without troubling a star.

  Francis Thompson

  Nature, Stars, Flower

  10 Copy quote

• The devil doesn't know how to sing, only how to howl.

  Francis Thompson

  Devil, Howl, Know How

  11 Copy quote

• Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare, And left the flushed print in a poppy there: Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came, And the fanning wind puffed it to flapping flame. With burnt mouth red like a lion's it drank The blood of the sun as he slaughtered sank, And dipped its cup in the purpurate shine When the eastern conduits ran with wine.

  Francis Thompson

  Summer, Wine, Fire

  James M. Byrne, Francis Thompson (2001). “God: thoughts in an age of uncertainty”, Continuum Intl Pub Group

  15 Copy quote

• Little Jesus, was Thou shy Once, and just so small as I? And what did it feel like to be Out of Heaven, and just like me?

  Francis Thompson

  Jesus, Heaven, Shy

  Francis Thompson (1913). “Complete Poetical Works”

  7 Copy quote

• The fairest things have fleetest end, Their scent survives their close: But the rose's scent is bitterness To him that loved the rose.

  Francis Thompson

  Love, Flower, Rose

  'Daisy' (1913)

  8 Copy quote

• Spring is come home with her world-wandering feet, And all things are made young with your desires.

  Francis Thompson

  Spring, Home, Feet

  James M. Byrne, Francis Thompson (2001). “God: thoughts in an age of uncertainty”, Continuum Intl Pub Group

  6 Copy quote

• A dog, I will maintain, is a very tolerable judge of beauty, as appears from the fact that any liberally educated dog does, in a general way, prefer a woman to a man.

  Francis Thompson

  Dog, Men, Judging

  Francis Thompson (1913*). “Prose [works].”

  9 Copy quote

• Look for me in the nurseries of Heaven.

  Francis Thompson

  Heaven, Looks, Nursery

  'To a Snowflake' (1913)

  11 Copy quote

• There is no expeditious road To pack and label men for God, And save them by the barrel-load. Some may perchance, with strange surprise, Have blundered into Paradise.

  Francis Thompson

  Men, Labels, Paradise

  'A Judgement in Heaven' (1913) epilogue

  7 Copy quote

• The desolation and terror of, for the first time, realizing that the mother can lose you, or you her, and your own abysmal loneliness and helplessness without her.

  Francis Thompson

  Family, Mother, Loneliness

  10 Copy quote

• Deep in my heart subsides the infrequent word, And there dies slowly throbbing like a wounded bird.

  Francis Thompson

  Heart, Bird, Wounded

  Francis Thompson (2002). “Poems of Francis Thompson”, p.16, A&C Black

  4 Copy quote

• So for thy spirit did devise Its Maker seemly garniture, Of its own essence parcel pure.-- From grave simplicities a dress, And reticent demureness, And love encinctured with reserve; Which the woven vesture would subserve. For outward robes in their ostents Should show the soul's habiliments. Therefore I say,--Thou'rt fair even so, But better Fair I use to know.

  Francis Thompson

  Essence, Simplicity, Soul

  Francis Thompson (2002). “Poems of Francis Thompson”, p.14, A&C Black

  7 Copy quote

• In all change, well looked into, the germinal good out-veils the apparent ill.

  Francis Thompson

  Veils, Ill, Wells

  4 Copy quote

• The innocent moon, that nothing does but shine,Moves all the labouring surges of the world.

  Francis Thompson

  Moving, Moon, Shining

  Francis Thompson (2002). “Poems of Francis Thompson”, p.77, A&C Black

  4 Copy quote

• Babies breathe a lot more rapidly than adults do, and what's more, they're also growing quickly and so they're absorbing lots more into the body and they're more fragile in terms of development and so on.

  Francis Thompson

  Baby, Adults, Development

  4 Copy quote

• But lilies, stolen from grassy mold, No more curled state unfold, Translated to a vase of gold; In burning throne though they keep still Serenities unthawed and chill.

  Francis Thompson

  Serenity, Gold, Mold

  Francis Thompson (2002). “Poems of Francis Thompson”, p.13, A&C Black

  4 Copy quote

• Baby smiled, mother wailed, Earthward while the sweetling sailed; Mother smiled, baby wailed, When to earth came Viola.

  Francis Thompson

  Mother, Baby, Earth

  Francis Thompson (2002). “Poems of Francis Thompson”, p.51, A&C Black

  4 Copy quote

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