George William Russell Quotes

• You cannot evoke great spirits and eat plums at the same time.

  George William Russell

  Time, Plums, Spirit

  "Across My Path" by Pelham Edgar, (p. 148), 1952.

  53 Copy quote

• Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality.

  George William Russell

  Life, Sympathy, Communication

  "Open letter to the Masters of Dublin". The Irish Times, October 7, 1913.

  46 Copy quote

• We may fight against what is wrong, but if we allow ourselves to hate, that is to insure our spiritual defeat and our likeness to what we hate.

  George William Russell

  Spiritual, Hate, Fighting

  "The Living Torch, A.E". Book by Monk Gibbon, 1937.

  13 Copy quote

• In ancient shadows and twilightsWhere childhood had strayed,The world's great sorrows were bornAnd its heroes were made.In the lost boyhood of JudasChrist was betrayed.

  George William Russell

  Hero, Childhood, Sorrow

  'Germinal' (1931)

  7 Copy quote

• Seek on earth what you have found in heaven.

  George William Russell

  Heaven, Earth, Found

  "The Unpractised Heart" by Leonard Alfred George Strong, (p. 147), 1942.

  7 Copy quote

• Forgive me, Spirit of my spirit, for this, that I have found it easier to read the mystery told in tears and understood Thee better in sorrow than in joy.

  George William Russell

  Forgive Me, Joy, Forgiving

  George William Russell (1926). “Collected poems”

  11 Copy quote

• Ah, to think how thin the veil that lies Between the pain of hell and Paradise.

  George William Russell

  Pain, Lying, Thinking

  George William Russell (1935). “Selected poems”

  7 Copy quote

• There is a law in human nature which draws us to like what we passionately condemn.

  George William Russell

  Law, Morality, Human Nature

  8 Copy quote

• Reason, alas, does not remove mountains. It only tries to walk around them, and see what is on the other side.

  George William Russell

  Trying, Mountain, Sides

  7 Copy quote

• In the lost boyhood of Judas, Christ was betrayed.

  George William Russell

  Childhood, Betrayed, Boyhood

  'Germinal' (1931)

  18 Copy quote

• We must pass like smoke or live within the spirit's fire;
  For we can no more than smoke unto the flame return
  If our thought has changed to dream, our will unto desire,
  As smoke we vanish though the fire may burn.

  George William Russell

  Dream, Fate, Fire

  George William Russell (1935). “Selected poems”

  4 Copy quote

• After the spiritual powers, there is no thing in the world more unconquerable than the spirit of nationality. ... The spirit of nationality in Ireland will persist even though the mightiest of material powers be its neighbor.

  George William Russell

  Spiritual, World, Unconquerable Will

  "The Economics of Ireland and the Policy of the British Government". Book by George William Russell, 1921.

  8 Copy quote

• A literary movement: five or six people who live in the same town and hate each other.

  George William Russell

  Hate, People, Towns

  4 Copy quote

• No leader, however great a personality he may be, is as important to a people as their own intellectual development.

  George William Russell

  People, Leader, Personality

  George William Russell (1937). “The Living Torch, A. E.”

  4 Copy quote

• We are tired who follow after fantasy and truth that flies: You with only look and laughter stain our hearts with richest dyes.

  George William Russell

  Laughter, Heart, Tired

  George William Russell, “Natural Magic”

  4 Copy quote

• Twilight, a timid, fawn, went glimmering by, and Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast.

  George William Russell

  Twilight, Dark, Night

  George William Russell (1935). “Selected poems”

  10 Copy quote

• Whiskey: a torchligh procession marching down your throat.

  George William Russell

  Whiskey, Throat, Procession

  4 Copy quote

• When steam first began to pump and wheels go round at so many revolutions per minute, what are called business habits were intended to make the life of man run in harmony with the steam engine, and his movement rival the train in punctuality.

  George William Russell

  Running, Men, Rivals

  "The School as a Home for the Mind : Creating Mindful Curriculum, Instruction, and Dialogue" by Arthur L. Costa, (p. 91), 2007.

  58 Copy quote

• A young man who had been troubling society with impalpable doctrines of a new civilization which he called "the Kingdom of Heaven" had been put out of the way; and I can imagine that believer in material power murmuring as he went homeward, "it will all blow over now." Yes. The wind from the Kingdom of Heaven has blown over the world, and shall blow for centuries yet.

  George William Russell

  Blow, Men, Wind

  George William Russell (1920). “The Economics of Ireland and the Policy of the British Government”

  8 Copy quote

• People tell me that the countryside must always be stupid and backward, and I get angry, as if it were said that only townspeople had immortal souls, and that it was only in the city that the flame of divinity breathed into the first men had an unobscured glow.

  George William Russell

  Country, Stupid, Men

  George William Russell (1913). “Co-operation and Nationality: A Guide for Rural Reformers from this to the Next Generation”

  4 Copy quote

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