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Stars: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.— ADDISON — Ode. The Spacious

Firmament on High. Surely the stars are images of love.— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. Garden and

Bower by the Sea. The stars, Which stand as thick as dewdrops on the fields Of heaven.— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. Heaven.

What are ye orbs? The words of God? the Scriptures of the skies?— BAILEY — Festus. Sc. Everywhere.

The sad and solemn night Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires; The glorious host of light Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires; All through her silent watches, gliding slow, Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go.— BRYANT — Hymn to the North Star.

The number is certainly the cause. The apparent disorder augments the grandeur, for the appearance of care is highly contrary to our ideas of magnificence. Besides, the stars lie in such apparent confusion, as makes it impossible on ordinary occasions to reckon them. This gives them the advantage of a sort of infinity.— BURKE — On the Sublime and the

Beautiful. Magnificence. Cry out upon the stars for doing Ill offices, to cross their wooing.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. III. Canto I. L. 17.

And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky.— CAMPBELL — The Soldier's Dream.

In yonder pensile orb, and every sphere That gems the starry girdle of the year.— CAMPBELL — Pleasures of Hope. Pt. II. L. 194.

Now twilight lets her curtain down And pins it with a star.— LYDIA MARIA CHILD — Adapted from

While twilight's curtain gathering far, Is pinned with a single diamond star.— M'DONALD CLARK — Death in Disguise. L. 227.

Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star In his steep course? S.— COLERIDGE — Hymn in the Vale of

Chamouni. The stars are golden fruit upon a tree All out of reach.— GEORGE ELIOT — The Spanish Gypsy. Bk. II.

The starres, bright sentinels of the skies.— WM. HABINGTON — Dialogue between Night and Araphil. L. 3.

The starres of the night Will lend thee their light, Like tapers cleare without number.— HERRICK — The Night Piece.

When, like an Emir of tyrannic power, Sirius appears, and on the horizon black Bids countless stars pursue their mighty track.— VICTOR HUGO — The Vanished City.

Just above yon sandy bar, As the day grows fainter and dimmer, Lonely and lovely, a single star Lights the air with a dusky glimmer.— LONGFELLOW — Chrysaor. St. 1.

Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.— LONGFELLOW — Evangeline. Pt. I. St. 3.

The night is calm and cloudless, And still as still can be, And the stars come forth to listen To the music of the sea. They gather, and gather, and gather, Until they crowd the sky, And listen, in breathless silence, To the solemn litany.— LONGFELLOW — Christus. The Golden Legend. Pt. V.

There is no light in earth or heaven But the cold light of stars; And the first watch of night is given To the red planet Mars.— LONGFELLOW — The Light of Stars. St. 2.

When stars are in the quiet skies, Then most I pine for thee; Bend on me then thy tender eyes, As stars look on the sea.— BULWER-LYTTON — When Stars are in the

Quiet Skies. A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold, And pavement stars.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VII. L. 577.

And made the stars, And set them in the firmament of heav'n, T' illuminate the earth, and rule the day In their vicissitude, and rule the night.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VII. Bk. VII. L. 348.

At whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. IV. L. 34.

Hither, as to their fountain, other stars Repairing in their golden urns draw light, And hence the morning planet gilds her horns.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VII. L. 364.

Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east.— MILTON — Song on May Morning.

So sinks the day-star in the ocean-bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky.— MILTON — Lycidas. L. 168.

The planets in their station list'ning stood.— MILTON — Paradise Lost. Bk. VII. L. 563,

The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heaven doth hold.— MILTON — Comus. L. 93.

Stars are the Daisies that begem The blue fields of the sky, Beheld by all, and everywhere, Bright prototypes on high.— MOIR — The Daisy. St. 5.

But soon, the prospect clearing, By cloudless starlight on he treads And thinks no lamp so cheering As that light which Heaven sheds.— MOORE — I'd Mourn the Hopes.

Led by the light of the Mæonian star.— POPE — Essay on Criticism. Pt. III. L. 89.

Ye little stars, hide your diminish'd rays.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 282.

Starry Crowns of Heaven Set in azure night! Linger yet a little Ere you hide your light:- Nay; let Starlight fade away, Heralding the day!— ADELAIDE A. PROCTER — Give Place.

A sky full of silent suns.— RICHTER — Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces. Ch. II

One naked star has waded through The purple shallows of the night, And faltering as falls the dew It drips its misty light.— JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY — The Beetle.

Thus some who have the Stars survey'd Are ignorantly led To think those glorious Lamps were made To light Tom Fool to bed.— NICHOLAS ROWE — Song on a Fine

Woman Who Had a Dull Husband. Her blue eyes sought the west afar, For lovers love the western star. .— SCOTT — Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto III. St. 24.

Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubins: Such harmony is in immortal souls; But whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 58.

Our Jovial star reign'd at his birth.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act V. Sc. 4. L. 105.

These blessed candles of the night.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 220.

The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks, They are all fire and every one doth shine, But there's but one in all doth hold his place. Julius Cæsar. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 63. The stars above us govern our conditions.— Shakespeare — King Lear. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 35.

The unfolding star calls up the shepherd.— Shakespeare — Measure for Measure. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 218.

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act V. Sc. 4. L.65.

Each separate star Seems nothing, but a myriad scattered stars Break up the Night, and make it beautiful.— BAYARD TAYLOR — Lars. Bk. III.

Last lines. Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.— TENNYSON — Locksley Hall. St. 5.

But who can count the stars of Heaven? Who sing their influence on this lower world?— THOMSON — Seasons. Winter. L. 528.

For every wave with dimpled face That leap'd upon the air, Had caught a star in its embrace And held it trembling there.— AMELIA B. WELBY — Musings. St. 4.

But He is risen, a later star of dawn.— WORDSWORTH — A Morning Exercise.

You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number than your light; You common people of the skies, - What are you when the moon shall rise?— SIR HENRY WOTTON — On His Mistress,

the Queen of Bohemia. Hence Heaven looks down on earth with all her eyes.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night VII. L. 1,103.

One sun by day, by night ten thousand shine; And light us deep into the Deity; How boundless in magnificence and might.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IX. L. 728.

Who rounded in his palm these spacious orbs * * * * * * Numerous as glittering gems of morning dew, Or sparks from populous cities in a blaze, And set the bosom of old night on fire.— YOUNG — Night Thoughts. Night IX. L. 1,260.