1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Edward Lear

Edward Lear Quotes

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, now known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to illustrate birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; as a illustrator of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry. Wikipedia  

✵ 12. May 1812 – 29. January 1888
Edward Lear photo

Works

Edward Lear: 21 quotes3 likes

Famous Edward Lear Quotes

“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.”

Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussycat

Source: The Owl and the Pussycat

“There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"”

Edward Lear

Book of Nonsense http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/nnsns10.txt, Limerick 1 (1846).

“They went to sea in a sieve, they did;
In a sieve they went to sea;
In spite of all their friends could say.”

Edward Lear

" The Jumblies http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html", st. 1, in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (1871).

“They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.”

Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussycat

St. 3.
Source: The Owl and the Pussycat (1871)

“When awful darkness and silence reign
Over the great Gromboolian plain,
Through the long, long wintry nights.
When the angry breakers roar
As they beat on the rocky shore;—
When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights
Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore”

Edward Lear

The Dong with the Luminous Nose http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/dln.html, st. 1 (1877).

“Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.”

Edward Lear

" The Jumblies http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html", st. 1, in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (1871).

Edward Lear Quotes about trees

“On the top of the Crumpetty Tree
The Quangle Wangle sat,
But his face you could not see,
On account of his Beaver Hat.”

Edward Lear

The Quangle Wangle's Hat http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/quangle.html, st. 1 (1877).

“They sailed away for a year and a day
To the land where the bong-tree grows.”

Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussycat

St. 2.
The Owl and the Pussycat (1871)

“Calico Pie,
The little Birds fly
Down to the calico tree,
Their wings were blue,
And they sang "Tilly-loo!"
Till away they flew,—
And they never came back to me!”

Edward Lear

Calico Pie http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/calico.html, st. 1 (1871).

Edward Lear Quotes

“The Pobble who has no toes
Had once as many as we;
When they said, "Some day you may lose them all;"—
He replied, — "Fish fiddle de-dee!"”

Edward Lear

The Pobble Who Has No Toes http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/pobble.html, st. 1 (1877).

“On the Coast of Coromandel
Where the early pumpkins blow,
In the middle of the woods
Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò.
Two old chairs, and half a candle,—
One old jug without a handle,—
These were all his worldly goods.”

Edward Lear

St. 1. <br class="br"> The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bongy-Bò http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/ybb.html (1877)

“I would be your wife most gladly!
(Here she twirled her fingers madly,)
But in England I've a mate!
Yes! you've asked me far too late,
For in England I've a mate.”

Edward Lear

St. 5. <br class="br"> The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bongy-Bò http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/ybb.html (1877)

“There he heard a Lady talking,
To some milk-white Hens of Dorking,—
'Tis the lady Jingly Jones!
On that little heap of stones
Sits the Lady Jingly Jones!”

Edward Lear

St. 2. <br class="br"> The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bongy-Bò http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/ybb.html (1877)

“Calico Jam,
The little Fish swam,
Over the syllabub sea,
He took off his hat,
To the Sole and the Sprat,
And the Willeby-Wat,—
But he never came back to me!”

Edward Lear

Calico Pie, st. 2.

“How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!
Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
But a few think him pleasant enough.”

Edward Lear

How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/pw/mrlear.html, st. 1 (1871).

“On a little heap of Barley
Died my aged uncle Arly,
And they buried him one night;—
Close beside the leafy thicket;—
There, his hat and Railway-Ticket;—
There, his ever-faithful Cricket;”

Edward Lear

But his shoes were far too tight. <br class="br"> Incidents in the Life of my Uncle Arly http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/pw/arly.html, st. 7 (1895).

“Who, or why, or which, or what,
Is the Akond of Swat?”

Edward Lear

The Akond of Swat http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/akond.html, l. 1 (1877).

“It's a fact the whole world knows,
That Pebbles are happier without their toes.”

Edward Lear

The Pobble Who Has No Toes, st. 6.

“His mind is concrete and fastidious,
His nose is remarkably big;
His visage is more or less hideous,
His beard it resembles a wig.”

Edward Lear

How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear, st. 2.

“Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee!
We think no Birds so happy as we!
Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill!
We think so then, and we thought so still!”

Edward Lear

The Pelican Chorus http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/pelican.html, chorus (1877).

“"Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."”

Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussycat

St. 3.
The Owl and the Pussycat (1871)

Similar authors

Robert Southey photo
Robert Southey51
British poet None
Charles Baudelaire photo
Charles Baudelaire133
French poet None
William Blake photo
William Blake249
English Romantic poet and artist None
Elizabeth Barrett Browning photo
Elizabeth Barrett Browning88
English poet, author None
Eugène Delacroix photo
Eugène Delacroix50
French painter None
Bettina von Arnim photo
Bettina von Arnim1
German writer None
Thomas Hardy photo
Thomas Hardy171
English novelist and poet None
Joseph Conrad photo
Joseph Conrad127
Polish-British writer None
George Gordon Byron photo
George Gordon Byron227
English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement None
Percy Bysshe Shelley photo
Percy Bysshe Shelley246
English Romantic poet None