Browse quotations by Alfred, Lord Tennyson with named works, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.
“’Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.”
Love can remain worth having even when it ends in loss, because avoiding grief by avoiding attachment would also remove the relationship itself.
Source note: In Memoriam A.H.H., Canto 27.
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
Facts can be acquired quickly, while judgment develops more slowly through reflection and experience.
Source note: Poem “Locksley Hall”; the contrast distinguishes readily acquired knowledge from the slower development of judgment and wisdom.
“Tho’ much is taken, much abides.”
Loss and limitation are acknowledged without allowing them to erase what remains possible or valuable.
Source note: Ulysses, near the close of the poem.
“I am a part of all that I have met.”
Identity is shaped by accumulated encounters, so places, people, and experiences remain part of the person who moves on.
Source note: Poem “Ulysses.”
“’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
The aging speaker refuses to treat reduced time or strength as a reason to stop seeking meaningful work.
Source note: Ulysses, in the closing address to the mariners.
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The closing sequence turns purpose into continuing action: effort, search, discovery, and refusal to surrender.
Source note: Poem “Ulysses,” final line.
“Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
The invitation joins companionship with renewed ambition, making change a shared undertaking rather than a solitary one.
Source note: Ulysses, in the closing address to the mariners.