Alfred Austin Quotes

Hospitality should be accidental, spontaneous, and impulsive, not pre-arranged and calculated.

Omit death's certain sharpness, life would lack
The salt that lends it savour.

In vain would science scan and trace
Firmly her aspect. All the while,
There gleams upon her far-off face
A vague unfathomable smile.

Women are more frequently charming than men, because they are less self-conscious.

The Devil is an echo
Of search unsatisfied.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.

Friendship craves
The commerce of the mind, not the exchange
Of emulous feasts that foster sycophants.

Imagination should
A reconciler, not a rebel, be,
To teach the heart of man to apprehend
Nature's vicissitudes, and bear his own,
With sympathetic fancy.

Of all our feigned affections, there is none
So hollow, selfish, and injurious,
As what we christen Patriotism.

Who once believed will never wholly doubt.

Doth logic in the lily hide,
And where's the reason in the rose?

He was an Englishman of Englishmen, of the old school of charming manners, flavoured by occasional downrightness of speech.

Is life worth living? Yes, so long
As Spring revives the year,
And hails us with the cuckoo's song,
To show that she is here;

Why should you,
Because the world is foolish, not be wise?

One must be intoxicated by scenery, in order to appreciate it. Tranquil survey is not enough, and scrutinising curiosity is fatal.