40 Thomas Hood Quotes

Thomas Hood quotes

1. His death which happened in his berth, At forty-odd befell: They went and told the sexton, and The sexton tolled the bell.

2. I remember, I remember The house where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon Nor brought too long a day; But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away.

   Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

3. I remember, I remember The fir-trees dark and high; I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky: It was a childish ignorance, But now 'tis little joy To know I'm farther off from Heaven Than when I was a boy.

4. And there is ev'n a happiness That makes the heart afraid!

5. There's not a string attuned to mirth But has its chord in melancholy.

6. But evil is wrought by want of thought, As well as want of heart.

7. I saw old Autumn in the misty morn Stand shadowless like Silence, listening To silence.

8. Straight down the Crooked Lane, And all round the Square.

9. Never go to France Unless you know the lingo, If you do, like me, You will repent, by jingo.

10. No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member- No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds- November!

11. Seem'd washing his hands with invisible soap In imperceptible water.

12. Oh bed! oh bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head.

13. One more Unfortunate, Weary of breath, Rashly importunate, Gone to her death! Take her up tenderly, Lift her with care; Fashion'd so slenderly Young, and so fair!

14. Alas! for the rarity Of Christian charity Under the sun!

15. With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread- Stitch! stitch! stitch! In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch She sang the 'Song of the Shirt.'

16. Work! work! work! While the cock is crowing aloof! And work-work-work, Till the stars shine through the roof!

17. Oh, Men, with Sisters dear! Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives! It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives!

18. Oh, God! that bread should be so dear, And flesh and blood so cheap!

19. 'Twas in the prime of summer-time An evening calm and cool, And four-and-twenty happy boys Came bounding out of school: There were some that ran and some that leapt, Like troutlets in a pool.

20. And lo! the universal air Seemed lit with ghastly flame; Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes Were looking down in blame

21. My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice; My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, Was at the Devil's price: A dozen times I groaned: the dead Had never groaned but twice!

22. That very night while gentle sleep The urchin's eyelids kissed, Two stern-faced men set out from Lynn, Through the cold and heavy mist; And Eugene Aram walked between, With gyves upon his wrist.

1. He lies like a hedgehog rolled up the wrong way, Tormenting himself with his prickles.

2. I love thee - I love thee, 'Tis all that I can say, It is my vision in the night, My dreaming in the day.

3. There are three things which the public will always clamour for, sooner or later; namely: novelty, novelty, novelty.

4. Half of the failures in life come from pulling one's horse when he is leaping.

5. What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. What is the soul? It is immaterial.

6. What joy have I in June's return? My feet are parched-my eyeballs burn, I scent no flowery gust; But faint the flagging zephyr springs, With dry Macadam on its wings, And turns me 'dust to dust.'

7. It was not in the winter Our loving lot was cast! It was the time of roses, We plucked them as we passed!

8. When he is forsaken, Withered and shaken, What can an old man do but die?

9. Well for the drones of the social hive that there are bees of an industrious turn, willing, for an infinitesimal share of the honey, to undertake the labor of its fabrication.

10. Comfort and indolence are cronies.

11. Mother of light! how fairly dost thou go Over those hoary crests, divinely led! Art thou that huntress of the silver bow Fabled of old? Or rather dost thou tread Those cloudy summits thence to gaze below, Like the wild chamois from her Alpine snow, Where hunters never climbed--secure from dread?

12. Sweet are the little brooks that run O'er pebbles glancing in the sun, Singing in soothing tones.

13. How widely its agencies vary,- To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless,- As even its minted coins express, Now stamp'd with the image of Good Queen Bess, And now of a Bloody Mary.

14. Dear bells! how sweet the sound of village bells When on the undulating air they swim!

15. Extremes meet', as the whiting said with its tail in its mouth.

16. Whoe'er has gone thro' London street, Has seen a butcher gazing at his meat, And how he keeps Gloating upon a sheep's Or bullock's personals, as if his own; How he admires his halves And quarters--and his calves, As if in truth upon his own legs grown.

17. Jasmine is sweet, and has many loves.

18. We watch'd her breathing through the night, Her breathing soft and low, As in her breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro.