Robert Burns quotes
Robert Burns (1759–1796): Scottish poet and lyricist. The library holds 256 quotes by Robert Burns, drawn from Tam o’ Shanter, Epistle to a Young Friend, The Cotter’s Saturday Night and other works. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: life, faith, happiness, nature, time, grief
The best-known Robert Burns quotes
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Affliction’s sons are brothers in distress; A brother to relieve,—how exquisite the bliss!
A Winter Night -
Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure Thrill the deepest notes of woe.
Sweet Sensibility -
Some hae meat and canna eat, And some would eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit.
Grace before Meat -
Man’s inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn.
Man was made to Mourn -
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o’ lang syne?
Auld Lang Syne -
Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin’ wrang, To step aside is human.
Address to the Unco Guid -
I waive the quantum o’ the sin, The hazard of concealing; But, och! it hardens a’ within, And petrifies the feeling!
Epistle to a Young Friend -
If there’s a hole in a’ your coats, I rede ye tent it; A chiel’s amang ye takin’ notes, And, faith, he’ll prent it.
On Captain Grose’s Peregrinations through Scotland -
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale.
The Cotter’s Saturday Night -
Auld Nature swears the lovely dears Her noblest work she classes, O; Her ‘prentice han’ she tried on man, And then she made the lasses, O!
Green grow the Rashes -
And there began a lang digression About the lords o’ the creation.
The Twa Dogs -
What’s done we partly may compute, But know not what’s resisted.
Address to the Unco Guid -
As Tammie glow’red, amazed and curious, The mirth and fun grew fast and furious.
Tam o’ Shanter -
His locked, lettered, braw brass collar Showed him the gentleman and scholar.
The Twa Dogs -
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp, The man’s the gowd for a’ that.
For a’ that and a’ that -
To make a happy fireside clime To weans and wife,—That’s the true pathos and sublime Of human life.
Epistle to Dr. Blacklock -
John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your bonny brow was brent.
John Anderson -
It was a’ for our rightfu’ King We left fair Scotland’s strand.
A’ for our Rightfu’ King -
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony; Tam lo’ed him like a vera brither,—They had been fou for weeks thegither.
Tam o’ Shanter -
But, oh! fell death’s untimely frost That nipt my flower sae early.
Highland Mary -
Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet To think how monie counsels sweet, How monie lengthened sage advices, The husband frae the wife despises.
Tam o’ Shanter -
But to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love forever.
Ae Fond Kiss -
But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or, like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever.
Tam o’ Shanter -
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O’er a’ the ills o’ life victorious.
Tam o’ Shanter -
We twa hae run about the braes, And pu’d the gowans fine.
Auld Lang Syne -
O life! thou art a galling load, Along a rough, a weary road, To wretches such as I!
Despondency -
Had we never loved sae kindly, Had we never loved sae blindly, Never met or never parted, We had ne’er been broken-hearted!
Ae Fond Kiss -
Perhaps it may turn out a sang, Perhaps turn out a sermon.
Epistle to a Young Friend -
Inspiring, bold John Barleycorn, What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Tam o’ Shanter -
Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victory! Now’s the day and now’s the hour; See the front o’ battle lour.
Bannockburn -
O Life! how pleasant is thy morning, Young Fancy’s rays the hills adorning! Cold-pausing Caution’s lesson scorning, We frisk away, Like schoolboys at th’ expected warning, To joy and play.
Epistle to James Smith -
Contented wi’ little, and cantie wi’ mair.
Contented wi’ Little -
Some books are lies frae end to end.
Death and Dr. Hornbook -
Liberty’s in every blow! Let us do or die.
Bannockburn -
Whatever mitigates the woes or increases the happiness of others, this is my criterion of goodness; and whatever injures society at large, or any individual in it, this is my measure of iniquity.
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How wretched is the man that hangs on by the favours of the great!
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Misery is like love; to speak its language truly, the author must have felt it.
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Firmness, both in sufferance and exertion, is a character I would wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint and the cowardly feeble resolve.
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This world is a busy scene, and man a creature destined for a progressive struggle.
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So dawning day has brought relief—Fareweel our night o’ sorrow.
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Those who seem to doubt or deny us what is justly ours, let us either pity their prejudice or despise their judgment.
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The attraction of love is in an inverse proportion to the attraction of the Newtonian philosophy.
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Novelty has something in it that inebriates the fancy, and not unfrequently dissipates and fumes away like other intoxication, and leaves the poor patient, as usual, with an aching heart.
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Labour endears rest, and both together are absolutely necessary for the proper enjoyment of human existence.
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Though you had the wisdom of Newton or the wit of Swift, garrulousness would lower you in the eyes of your fellow-creatures.
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There is no sporting with a fellow-creature’s happiness or misery.
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The world… may overlook most of us; but “reverence thyself.”
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We wrap ourselves up in the cloak of our own better fortune, and turn away our eyes, lest the wants and woes of our brother-mortals should disturb the selfish apathy of our souls.
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How little do the wantonly or idly officious think what mischief they do by their malicious insinuations, indirect impertinence, or thoughtless babblings!
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I think a lock and key a security at least equal to the bosom of any friend whatever.
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Mankind in general agree in testifying their devotion, their gratitude, their friendship, or their love, by presenting whatever they hold dearest.
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However, an old song, though to a proverb an instance of insignificance, is generally the only coin a poet has to pay with.
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Petitioners for admittance into favour must not harass the condescension of their benefactor.
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There is a time of life beyond which we cannot form a tie worth the name of friendship.
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No man can say in what degree any other person, besides himself, can be, with strict justice, called wicked.
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Misery and ruin to thousands are in the blast that announces the destructive demon (war).
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The question is not at what door of fortune’s palace shall we enter in, but what doors does she open to us?
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There is a great deal of folly in talking unnecessarily of one’s private affairs.
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To no man, whatever his station in life, or his power to serve me, have I ever paid a compliment at the expense of truth.
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Those who are elevated enough in life to reason and to reflect, yet low enough to keep clear of the venal contagion of a court—these are a nation’s strength!
Where these quotes come from
- Tam o’ Shanter (11 quotes)
- Epistle to a Young Friend (6 quotes)
- The Cotter’s Saturday Night (5 quotes)
- A’ for our Rightfu’ King (3 quotes)
- A Winter Night (2 quotes)
- Man was made to Mourn (2 quotes)
- Auld Lang Syne (2 quotes)
- Address to the Unco Guid (2 quotes)
Every quote comes from a public-domain edition. How the library was made .