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Letitia Elizabeth Landon Quotes
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Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L.

✵ 14. August 1802 – 15. October 1838
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon: 785 quotes11 likes

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Quotes

“Then they were silent: words are little aid
To Love, whose deepest vows are ever made
By the heart's beat alone. Oh, silence is
Love's own peculiar eloquence of bliss!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Rosalie.
The Improvisatrice (1824)

“It was my evil star above,
Not my sweet lute, that wrought me wrong;
It was not song that taught me love,
But it was love that taught me song.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Title Poem
The Improvisatrice (1824)

“My bark is on the ocean riding,
Like a spirit o'er it gliding;
Maiden, wilt thou come—and be
Queen of my fair ship and me?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“[Alvine] ’Tis one of those bright fictions that have made
The name of Greece only another word
For love and poetry; with a green earth—
Groves of the graceful myrtle — summer skies,
Whose stars are mirror'd in ten thousand streams—
Winds that move but in perfume and in music,
And, more than all, the gift of woman's beauty.
What marvel that the earth, the sky, the sea,
Were filled with all those fine imaginings
That love creates, and that the lyre preserves!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Bacchus and Ariadne from The London Literary Gazette (2nd November 1822) Dramatic Scene - II.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“Remembrance makes the poet; 'tis the past
Lingering within him, with a keener sense
Than is upon the thoughts of common men
Of what has been, that fills the actual world
With unreal likenesses of lovely shapes,
That were and are not; and the fairer they,
The more their contrast with existing things,
The more his power, the greater is his grief.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

A History of the Lyre
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

“I speak of my own feelings—I can judge
Of others but by outward show, and that
Is falser than the actor's studied part.
We dress our words and looks in borrow'd robes:
The mind is as the face—for who goes forth
In public walks without a veil at least?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

A History of the Lyre
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

“THE quiet of the evening hour
Was laid on every summer leaf;
That purple shade was on each flower,
At once so beautiful, so brief,
Only the aspen knew not rest,
But still, with an unquiet song,
Kept murmuring to the gentle west,
And cast a changeful shade along.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Aspen Tree from The London Literary Gazette (21st August 1830)
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“We all know that there is evil in the world — we read of it — we hear of it — but we never think of its entering our own charmed circle. Look round our circle of acquaintance; how it would startle us to be asked to name one whom we thought capable of crime; how much more so to find that crime had been committed by one near and dear to our inmost heart. What a moral revulsion would such a discovery produce — how weak we should find ourselves under such a trial — how soon we should begin to disconnect the offender and the offence; then, for the first time, we should begin to understand the full force of temptation, and to allow for its fearful strength; and should we not begin to excuse what had never before seemed capable of palliation?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

No.11. The Heart of Mid Lothian — JEANNIE DEANS.
Literary Remains

“But the words of lovers are a language apart; their melody is a fairy song departing with the one haunted hour; to repeat it is to make it commonplace—cold, yet we can all remember it.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Monthly Magazine

“If you give an opinion in favour of one, you still offend both; for it is a physological quality in quarrels conjugal, that though each considers the other to blame, they will not allow you to think so too; moreover, the chances are, that, in your own private opinion, they are both wrong — a most unpopular verdict to pronounce.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Literary Remains

“He took his lute—his voice was low,
So lapsing waters softly flow
Amid the drooping flowers around,
As if they turned their sighs to sound.
Ah, magic! of a voice that seems
To haunt the soul with hopes and dreams;”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“They named him — ah! yet
Do I start at that name;”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(1837 1) (Vol. 49) A Name
The Monthly Magazine

“I am spectator, not partaker, here.
To me it seems more like a pageant made
To represent mirth, than the mirth itself.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Ancestress (Spoken by Bertha)
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

“For when do friends not delight in the sorrow of the prosperous?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Heath's book of Beauty, 1833 (1832)

“Where are the flowers, the beautiful flowers,
That haunted your homes and your hearts in the spring?
Where is the sunshine of earlier hours?
Where is the music the birds used to bring?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(9th May 1829) Change
(20th June 1829) Fame : An Apologue See The Vow of the Peacock, as The Three Brothers
(29th August 1829) First Grave See The Vow of the Peacock as The Single Grave
The London Literary Gazette, 1829

“I held that Love
Which chooseth from a thousand only one,
To be the object of that tenderness
Natural to every heart; which can resign
Its own best happiness for one dear sake;
Can bear with absence; hath no part in Hope,—
For Hope is somewhat selfish, Love is not,—
And doth prefer another to itself.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

A History of the Lyre
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

“When civilization comes to a certain point, the changes in the higher classes are little more than those of fancies and of fashions; but those operating on the classes below are changes of character.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

No.4. Guy Mannering — LUCY BERTRAM.
Literary Remains

“Cradle of Letters! Mistress of the World!
Soil of the Sun! Italia! I salute thee!
How oft the human race have worn thy yoke.
The vessels of thine arms, thine arts, thy sky!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Translations, From the French

“The huge dome of St. Paul's arose bathed in the moonlight, that giant fane of a giant city, a hundred spires were shining silvery in the soft gleam, and all meaner objects were touched with a picturesque obscurity: all around was silence and rest. The myriad voices of London were still, and nothing vexed the lulled ear of midnight.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Monthly Magazine

“God! that this Earth should be so beautiful,
And yet so wretched!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(28th April 1824) Moonlight. T. C. Hofland.
The London Literary Gazette, 1824

“He enter'd now the garden, and a fall
Of singing, voice and lute, sank on his ear :
At first it seem'd thrice sweet and musical,
But it grew sadder as he came more near.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

9th September 1826) Metrical Fragments No. IV. - The Redeemed Captive (under the pen name Iole
(16th September 1826) Metrical Fragments No. V. - The Frozen Ship (under the pen name Iole) see The Vow of the Peacock
The London Literary Gazette, 1826

“Many and opposite are the lots in life, and unequal are the portions which they measure out to the children of earth. We cannot agree with those who contend that the difference after all is but in outward seeming. Such an assertion is often the result of thoughtlessness — sometimes the result of selfishness. It is one of the good points of human nature, that it revolts against human suffering. Few there are who can witness pain, whether of mind or of body, without pity, and the desire to alleviate; but such is our infirmity of purpose, that a little suffices to turn us aside from assistance. Indolence, difficulties, and contrary interests come in the way of sympathy, and then we desire to excuse our apathy to ourselves. It is a comfortable doctrine to suppose that the evil is made up by some mysterious allotment of good; it is an excuse for non-interference, and we let conscience sleep over our own enjoyments, taking it for granted others have them also — though how we know not.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Literary Remains

“That day the youth was told the tale,
How she had pined beneath the veil
And died, and then they show'd her grave—
He knew that cypress's green wave. —
That night, alone, he watched his bride —
The next they laid him by her side.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(18th September 1824) The Phantom Bride
The London Literary Gazette, 1824

“The path was new, and there was thrown
A sweet veil over pleasure's ray;
But ignorance is happiness,
When young Hope is to show the way;”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(12th January 1822) Ten Years Ago.
The London Literary Gazette, 1821-1822

“To use the established phrase, three months of uninterrupted happiness glided away—a phrase, though in frequent use, whose accuracy I greatly doubt; there being no such thing as uninterrupted happiness any how or any where.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Heath's book of Beauty, 1833 (1832)

“Nothing discourages a child so much as the impossibility of pleasing.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Traits and Trials of Early Life (1836)

“The same, yet not the same — her face
Has still that Grecian line;
The sculptured perfectness whose grace
Has long been held divine.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Amulet, 1831 (1830), The Legacy
Other Gift Books

“To make our story shorter than the miniature groom's, he learnt that his own property in himself was in danger; and that, if the patriot’s definition of liberty be true —"it is like the air we breathe, without it we die"—his life was near its termination. A writ was issued against him; and, thanks to a douceur to his valet, two professional gentlemen, as he left his toilet, would deprive his friends at the Clarendon of his company.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Heath's book of Beauty, 1833 (1832)

“To love, to be beloved again, and know
A gulf between us:—aye, 'tis misery!
This agony of passion, this wild faith,
Whose constancy is fruitless, yet is kept
Inviolate:—to feel that all life's hope,
And light, and treasure, clings to one from whom
Our wayward doom divides us. Better far
To weep o'er treachery or broken vows,—
For time may teach their worthlessness:—or pine
With unrequited love;—there is a pride
In the fond sacrifice—the cheek may lose
Its summer crimson; but at least the rose
Has withered secretly—at least, the heart
That has been victim to its tenderness,
Has sighed unechoed by some one as true,
As wretched as itself.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Lover’s Rock from The London Literary Gazette (5th October 1822) Poetical Sketches. 3rd series - Sketch the Fifth
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“Sweet Pauline, could I buy thee
With gold or its worth,
I would not deny thee
The wealth of the earth.
They talk of the pleasure
That riches bestow —
Without thee, my treasure,
What joy could I know?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The London Literary Gazette (10th January 1835) Versions from the German (Second Series.) 'Pauline's Price'— Goethe.
Translations, From the German

“Thou blessed season of our spring,
When hopes are angels on the wing;
Bound upwards to their heavenly shore,
Alas! to visit earth no more.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Poetical Portrait II
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

“But not like this is Nature's face,
Though even she must bear the trace
Of the great curse that clings to all;
Her leaves, her flowers, must spring to fall :”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Golden Violet - title poem - introduction
The Golden Violet (1827)

“Always accustomed to wealth, she did not understand its value; we must want money to really know its worth, and money seemed to her the vilest consideration that could have influence.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Monthly Magazine

“Egmont:
The Egmont of yon city — he is proud,
And cold, and stern, and sorrowful. He keeps
His counsel to himself. He wears a brow
That is a smiling shadow to his heart :
Perplexed with seeming mirth, that shroudeth care.
Exalted by a giddy populace,
That know not what they laud, or what they seek.
Moving 'mid those who understand him not;
Whom he has naught in common with : and worn
By furious guarding 'gainst familiar friends
Who seem, yet are not. Watched, suspected, feared;
Wearied with labour, which hath neither end
Nor yet reward; but only distant hope.
Such is the Egmont of the field and state.
But thine beloved : he is happy, frank,
Open, and known to that most dear of hearts —
Which he knows, too, and trusts it as his own.
Calm, deeply joyful; such is Egmont now.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The London Literary Gazette (28th February 1835)
Translations, From the German

“There was a grave just closed. Not one seemed near,
To pay the tribute of one long—last tear!
How very desolate must that one be,
Whose more than grave has not a memory!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Rosalie.
The Improvisatrice (1824)

“And there the lovely Lily grew,
The summer's purest flower,
And many a tiny fairy knew
The shelter of its bower”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(7th June 1834) The History of the Lily
(25th October 1834) The Exile. See under Translations from the French
(1835) For Versions from the German, see under Translations from the German
The London Literary Gazette, 1833-1835

“Where had thy life been at this hour,
Had not my Love been more than my Power? —
Away, if thou fearest, — love never must,
Never can live with one shade of distrust.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(1825-2) Antony and Cleopatra. An Anecdote from Plutarch
The Monthly Magazine

“There is a steep and lofty wall,
Where my warders trembling stand,
He who at speed shall ride round its height,
For him shall be my hand.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Canto IV
The Troubadour (1825)

“It was a beautiful embodied thought,
A dream of the fine painter, one of those
That pass by moonlight o'er the soul, and flit
'Mid the dim shades of twilight, when the eye
Grows tearful with its ecstasy.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(1st June 1822) Poetic Sketches. Second Series - Sketch the Fifth. Mr. Martin’s Picture of Clytie
8th June 1822) The Deserter see The Improvisatrice (1824
The London Literary Gazette, 1821-1822

“It is an unpleasant thing to differ in opinion with the rest of one's species — it is making a sort of North Pole of one's own, and then setting out in search of it.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Monthly Magazine

“I believe that more women are disappointed in marriage than men; a woman gives the whole of her heart — the man only gives the remains of his, and very often there is only a little left. Besides his idol is rarely so much the work of his own hands as her's; at the end of the first year she may ask, where are the picturesque and ennobling qualities with which she invested her lover? in nine cases out of ten echo will indeed answer “where."”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

No.15. Ivanhoe — REBECCA.
Literary Remains

“Love, passionate young Love, how sweet it is
To have the bosom made a Paradise
By thee—life lighted by thy rainbow smile!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

A Village Tale. from The London Literary Gazette: 6th December 1823 Poetic Sketches. Fourth Series. Sketch IV.
The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“What need hath she
Of shrine to her divinity?
Each fair face is her visible shrine;
She hath been, she will be divine.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Golden Violet - The Queen of Cyprus
The Golden Violet (1827)

“The present—the actual—were they our all—
Too heavy our burthen, too hopeless our thrall;
But heaven, that spreadeth o'er all its blue cope,
Hath given us memory,—hath given us hope!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“Time is the great leveller, but he is also the sanctifier and the beautifier.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Monthly Magazine

“And round the walls were Pictures : some calm scenes
Of Earth's green loveliness, and some whose hues
Were caught from faces in whose smile our life
Is one of Paradise; and Statues, whose white grace
Is as a dream of poetry.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The London Literary Gazette, 1823

“I know not which is the most fatal gift,
Genius or Love, for both alike are ruled
By stars of bright aspect and evil influence.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“Childhood whose very happiness is love.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Erinna
The Golden Violet (1827)

“Deep in the silent waters,
A thousand fathoms low,
A gallant ship lies perishing —
She foundered long ago.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

(12th January 1833) The Lost Ship
The London Literary Gazette, 1833-1835