Night quotes

Auden W.H. 1907-1973

‘Night train'

This is the night mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor.
The shop on the corner, the girl next door.

Blake William 1757-1983

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

Bourdillon F.W. 1852-1921

Among the Flowers „Light"

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies,
With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies,
When love is done.

Bridges Robert 1844-1930

‘London Snow'

All night in fell, and when full inches seven
It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness,
The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven;
And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness
Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare.

Dickinson Emily 1830-1886

Dying is a wild night and a new road.

Fitzgerald F. Scott 1896-1940

‘Handle with Care'

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning.

Jonson Ben c.1573-1637

Volpone

Suns, that set, may rise again;
But if once we lose this light,
‘Tis with us perpentual night.

Joyce James 1882-1941

Finnegans Wake

Tell me, tell me, tell me, elm! Night, night!
Telmetale of stem or stone. Beside the rivering waters of hitherandthithering waters of. Night!

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth 1807-1882

‘The Children's Hour'

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to Lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth 1807-1882

‘Excelsior'

The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, ‘mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth 1807-1882

Tales of a Wayside Inn ‘Elizabeth'

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing;
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence.

Lyly John c.1554-1606

The Maydes Metamorphosis
Night hath a thousand eyes.

Millay Edna St Vincent 1892-1950

A Few Figs From Thistles ‘First Fig'

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light.

Milton John 1608-1674

Comus

What hath night to do with sleep?

Milton John 1608-1674

Samson Agonistes

The sun to me is dark
And silent as the moon,
When she deserts the night
Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.

Milton John 1608-1674

Sonnet 19 ‘Methought I saw my late espousèd saint'
But oh as to embrance me she inclined
I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.

Moore Thomas 1779-1852

‘Oft in the Stilly Night'

Oft, in the stilly night,
Ere Slumber's chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

Newman John Henry, Cardinal 1801-1890

‘Lead, kindly Light'

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home.

O'Neill Eugene 1888-1953

A long day's journey into night.

Porte Cole 1891-1964

‘Night and Day'

Night and day, you are the one,
Only you beneath the moon and under the sun.

Saint-Exupéry Antoine de 1900-1944

Night, when words fade and things come alive, when the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.
When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.

Sineca c.4 BC-AD 65

Night brings our troubles to the light rather than banishes them.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Julius Caesar

The deep of night is crept upon our talk,
And nature must obey necessity.

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

Macbeth

Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,
And with thy bloody and invisible hand,
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale!

Shakespeare William 1564-1616

The Merchant of Venice