Sonnet Quotes

“Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive.”

— William Shakespeare

“Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love.”

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

— William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

— William Shakespeare

Better a live doggerel than a dead sonnet.

— Ethel Mumford

“All's well that ends well.”

— Anonymous

Default is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

— Paul Krugman

Love that well which thou must leave ere long.

— William Shakespeare

A true sonnet goes eight lines and then takes a turn for better or worse and goes six or eight lines more.

— Robert Frost

The martini: the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet.

— H. L. Mencken

“when you go to bed, don't leave bread or milk on the table: it attracts the dead. [sonnet 6]”

— Rainer Maria Rilke

Elinor Lipman is to tweets what Shakespeare is to sonnets.

— Firoozeh Dumas

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks.

— William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women mearly players.

— William Shakespeare

You can't beat a good sonnet, and you can write a sonnet without being married to the damned thing.

— Bonnie Jo Campbell

“You are given the form, but you must write the sonnet for yourself.”

— Madeleine L'Engle

To me there's no creativity without boundaries. If you're gonna write a sonnet, it's 14 lines, so it's solving the problem within…

— Lorne Michaels

If I ever asked you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked a woman and been totally…

— Robin Williams

Being your slave what should I do but tend, Upon the hours, and times of your desire? I have no precious time…

— William Shakespeare

“No, I am that I am, and they that level At my abuses, reckon up their own; I may be straight, though…

— Shakespeare

A witty and informative professor posits that more authors do not choose titles borrowed from Shakespeare's sonnets and plays for the reason…

— Thomas C Foster

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can…

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“I'm thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art, And this is the only…

— Vladimir Nabokov

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night…

— William Shakespeare

“I knew your plan before you made it,” Eldora proclaimed, tossing her Wert from hand to hand… “You are somewhat of a…

— Mary-Jean Harris

If I asked you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally…

— Robin Williams

The short story is not as restrictive as the sonnet, but, of all the literary forms, it is possibly the most single-minded.…

— Louis Menand

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours…

— William Shakespeare

So, some of the most difficult formal poems that I've written, say one sentence sonnets, I've been able to do those fairly…

— Edward Hirsch

“she read, and so reading she was ascending, she felt, on to the top, on to the summit. How satisfying! How restful!…

— virginia woolf

There is hope for a man who has never read Malory or Boswell or Tristam Shandy or Shakespeare's Sonnets: but what can…

— C. S. Lewis

Want to talk about Shakespeare's sonnets?" asked Orphu of Io. Are you shitting me?" The moravecs loved the ancient human colloquial phrases,…

— Dan Simmons

I prefer formal techniques, and use sonnets and rhyme, any manner of scheme to give a shape and order-of feeling as well…

— J. D. McClatchy

“Sonnet XVII I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots…

— Pablo Neruda

“Sonnets to Write Before I Sleep (The Sonnet) When I finished my first 1000 sonnets, I felt, now I shall take it…

— Abhijit Naskar

“Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part, Nay, I have done, you get no more of me, And I…

— Michael Drayton

I did some research on this a couple years ago," Augustus continued. "I was wondering if everybody could be remembered. Like, if…

— John Green

“On city harp strings ‘neath cotton ball clouds, Pigeon to pigeon their stories they sing, Wafting flocks gather in soft, cooing crowds;…

— Marie Helen Abramyan

“My galley, charged with forgetfulness, Thorough sharp seas in winter nights doth pass 'Tween rock and rock; and eke mine enemy, alas,…

— Thomas Wyatt

“A little later, as we talked of the Maniot dirges by which I was obsessed, I was surprised to hear this bloodshot-eyed…

— Patrick Leigh Fermor