Browse quotations by William Wordsworth with named works, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.
Focused collections bring together quotations from this author around one recurring idea.
“The best portion of a good man’s life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”
A good life is measured through small acts of care that may never become famous or even remain in memory.
Source note: Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey; the speaker reflects on small, often unremembered acts of kindness and love.
“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”
Wordsworth describes long attention to nature as a dependable source of memory, quietness, and moral perspective.
Source note: Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.
“The Child is father of the Man.”
Adult character grows from earlier habits of perception, so childhood is presented as a formative source rather than a discarded stage.
Source note: Poem “My Heart Leaps Up.”
“Fair as a star, when only one is shining in the sky.”
Wordsworth makes beauty quiet and easily overlooked: Lucy is compared not to spectacle but to a single star whose isolation makes it more noticeable.
Source note: “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways,” second stanza.
“Sweet is the lore which Nature brings.”
Nature is presented as a source of knowledge that can complement formal study by training attention and receptiveness.
Source note: The Tables Turned; the line follows Wordsworth’s claim that a vernal wood can teach moral insight.
“Enough of Science and of Art; close up these barren leaves.”
Wordsworth provocatively contrasts formal study with direct experience, not because art or books are worthless but because second-hand learning can crowd out attention.
Source note: The Tables Turned, final stanza; the speaker urges his friend to close the books and bring a receptive heart outdoors.
“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.”
Direct attention to the natural world is offered as a form of learning that complements books and abstract study.
Source note: Poem “The Tables Turned.”
“One impulse from a vernal wood may teach you more of man than all the sages can.”
Experience in nature is used as a counterweight to abstract instruction, encouraging observation alongside formal learning.
Source note: The Tables Turned; two adjacent lines are joined into one sentence.