Thomas Hood quotes

Thomas Hood was an English poet, author, and humorist, recognized for his wit and social commentary. His works often combined playful language with sharp observations about everyday life and social issues. He is remembered especially for his poems "The Song of the Shirt" and "Bridge of Sighs," which highlighted the struggles of the poor. Here are 60 of his quotes:

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

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

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.

Thomas Hood

A man that's fond precociously of stirring, Must be a spoon.

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

For my part, getting up seems not so easy By half as lying.

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

Boughs are daily rifled By the gusty thieves, And the book of Nature Getteth short of leaves.

Thomas Hood

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."

Thomas Hood

Our very hopes belied our fears, Our fears our hopes belied; We thought her dying when she slept, And sleeping when she died.

Thomas Hood

Oh would I were dead now, Or up in my bed now, To cover my head now, And have a good cry!

Thomas Hood

My tears must stop, for every drop Hinders needle and thread.

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

Pity it is to slay the meanest thing.

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

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

Thomas Hood

There's a double beauty whenever a swan Swims on a lake with her double thereon.

Thomas Hood

There is a silence where hath been no sound, There is a silence where no sound may be,- In the cold grave, under the deep, deep sea, Or in the wide desert where no life is found.

Thomas Hood

Ben Battle was a soldier bold, And used to war's alarms; But a cannon-ball took off his legs, So he laid down his arms.

Thomas Hood

Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold.

Thomas Hood