ROBERT BURNS QUOTES

Scottish poet & lyricist (1759-1796)

Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learning I desire.

ROBERT BURNS

First Epistle to John Lapraik


There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In every hour that passes, O:
What signifies the life o' man,
An 'twerna for the lasses, O.

ROBERT BURNS

Green Grow the Rashes, O


Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met -- or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

ROBERT BURNS

Ae Fond Kiss


Some books are lies frae end to end.

ROBERT BURNS

Death and Dr. Hornbook


While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things,
The fate of empires and the fall of kings;
While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.

ROBERT BURNS

The Rights of Women


When Nature her great masterpiece designed,
And framed her last, best work, the human mind,
Her eye intent on all the wondrous plan,
She formed of various stuff the various Man.

ROBERT BURNS

To Robert Graham


The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley;
And leave us naught but grief and pain
For promised joy.

ROBERT BURNS

To a Mouse


Freedom and Whisky gang thegither!

ROBERT BURNS

The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer


Nae man can tether time or tide.

ROBERT BURNS

Tam o' Shanter


The heart benevolent and kind
The most resembles God.

ROBERT BURNS

A Winter Night


But pleasures are like poppies spread--
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river--
A moment white -- then melts for ever.

ROBERT BURNS

Tam o' Shanter


But facts are chiels that winna ding, and downa be disputed.

ROBERT BURNS

A Dream


The rank is but the guinea's stamp;
The man's the gowd for a' that!

ROBERT BURNS

For a' that and a' that


Oh, my Luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly played in tune.

ROBERT BURNS

A Red, Red Rose


This day, Time winds th' exhausted chain,
To run the twelvemonth's length again.

ROBERT BURNS

New Year's Day


A fig for those by law protected!
Liberty's a glorious feast!
Courts for cowards were erected,
Churches built to please the priest.

ROBERT BURNS

The Jolly Beggars


To make a happy fire-side clime
To weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime
Of human life.

ROBERT BURNS

To Dr. Blacklock


Anticipation forward points the view.

ROBERT BURNS

The Cotter's Saturday Night


Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne?

ROBERT BURNS

Auld Lang Syne


Her lips are like the cherries ripe
That sunny walls from Boreas screen.
They tempt the taste and charm the sight.

ROBERT BURNS

On Cessnock's Banks