A. E. Housman Quotes - Page 3

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• Why, if 'tis dancing you would be, There's brisker pipes than poetry. Say, for what were hop-yards meant, Or why was Burton built on Trent? Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God's ways to man. Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink For fellows whom it hurts to think: Look into the pewter pot To see the world as the world's not.

  A. E. Housman

  Hurt, Drinking, Men

  Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 62

  10 Copy quote

• The average man, if he meddles with criticism at all, is a conservative critic.

  A. E. Housman

  Men, Average, Criticism

  Marcus Manilius, A. E. Housman (2011). “Astronomicon”, p.43, Cambridge University Press

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• Oh I have been to Ludlow fair, and left my necktie God knows where. And carried half way home, or near, pints and quarts of Ludlow beer.

  A. E. Housman

  Home, Beer, Way

  Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 62

  28 Copy quote

• There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.

  A. E. Housman

  Soul, Fence, Halt

  A. E. Housman (1990). “A Shropshire Lad”, p.37, Courier Corporation

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• Clay lies still, but blood's a rover;
  Breath's aware that will not keep.
  Up, lad: when the journey's over then there'll be time enough to sleep.

  A. E. Housman

  Time, Travel, Lying

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• The laws of God, the laws of man, He may keep that will and can; Not I: let God and man decree Laws for themselves and not for me.

  A. E. Housman

  God, Letting Go, Men

  1922 Last Poems, no.12.

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• The fairies break their dances And leave the printed lawn.

  A. E. Housman

  Angel, Fairy, Break

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.120, Delphi Classics

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• When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, `Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free.' But I was one-and-twenty No use to talk to me. When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again, `The heart out of the bosom Was never given in vain; 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty And sold for endless rue.' And I am two-and-twenty And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

  A. E. Housman

  Wise, Heart, Men

  Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 13

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• Oh when I was in love with you,
  Then I was clean and brave,
  And miles around the wonder grew
  How well did I behave.
  And now the fancy passes by,
  And nothing will remain,
  And miles around they'll say that
  I Am quite myself again.

  A. E. Housman

  Life, Love You, Brave

  Shropshire Lad (1896) no. 18

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• Nature, not content with denying him the ability to think, has endowed him with the ability to write.

  A. E. Housman

  Sarcastic, Writing, Thinking

  9 Copy quote

• 'Tis spring; come out to ramble
  The hilly brakes around,
  For under thorn and bramble
  About the hollow ground
  The primroses are found.
  And there's the windflower chilly
  With all the winds at play,
  And there's the Lenten lily
  That has not long to stay
  And dies on Easter day.

  A. E. Housman

  Easter, Spring, Wind

  A. E. Housman (2012). “A Shropshire Lad”, p.20, Courier Corporation

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• Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out. Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.

  A. E. Housman

  Perfect, Poetry, Understanding

  "The Name and Nature of Poetry". The Leslie Stephen Lecture, Cambridge University, May 09, 1933.

  7 Copy quote

• These, in the day when heaven was falling, The hour when earth's foundations fled, Followed their mercenary calling And took their wages and are dead. The British regulars who made the retreat from Mons, beginning August 24, 1914.

  A. E. Housman

  Fall, August, Heaven

  1922 Last Poems, no.37,'Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries'.

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• Tomorrow, more's the pity, Away we both must hie, To air the ditty and to earth I.

  A. E. Housman

  Air, Earth, Tomorrow

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.143, Delphi Classics

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• Stone, steel, dominions pass, Faith too, no wonder; So leave alone the grass That I am under.

  A. E. Housman

  Steel, Stones, Dominion

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.24, Delphi Classics

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• We now to peace and darkness And earth and thee restore Thy creature that thou madest And wilt cast forth no more.

  A. E. Housman

  Peace, Darkness, Earth

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.47, Delphi Classics

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• I sought them far and found them, The sure, the straight, the brave, The hearts I lost my own to, The souls I could not save They braced their belts about them, They crossed in ships the sea, They sought and found six feet of ground, And there they died for me.

  A. E. Housman

  Heart, Sea, Feet

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.134, Delphi Classics

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• Mithridates, he died old. Housman's passage is based on the belief of the ancients that Mithridates the Great [c. 135-63 B.C.] had so saturated his body with poisons that none could injure him. When captured by the Romans he tried in vain to poison himself, then ordered a Gallic mercenary to kill him.

  A. E. Housman

  Poison, Body, Belief

  7 Copy quote

• Now, of my threescore years and ten,
  Twenty will not come again.

  A. E. Housman

  Years, Twenties, Wearing White

  1896 A Shropshire Lad, no.2.

  60 Copy quote

• Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good.

  A. E. Housman

  Wise, Moon, Men

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.89, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But man's deceiver Was never mine.

  A. E. Housman

  Hope, Lying, Believe

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.6, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• And silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears.

  A. E. Housman

  Cheer, Silence, Sound

  A. E. Housman (2012). “A Shropshire Lad”, p.13, Courier Corporation

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• The troubles of our proud and angry dust are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.

  A. E. Housman

  Beer, Dust, Sky

  Last Poems (1922) no. 9

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• I think that to transfuse emotion - not to transmit thought but to set up in the reader's sense a vibration corresponding to what was felt by the writer - is the peculiar function of poetry.

  A. E. Housman

  Thinking, Peculiar, Vibrations

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.154, Delphi Classics

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• Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour, He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower Its strength, and struck.

  A. E. Housman

  Strength, Luck, Towers

  A. E. Housman (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of A. E. Housman (Illustrated)”, p.114, Delphi Classics

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