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Robert Burns Quotes
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Robert Burns , also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, the National Bard, Bard of Ayrshire and the Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay , and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss". Wikipedia  

✵ 25. January 1759 – 21. July 1796  •  Other names রবার্ট বার্ণস, Роберт Бернс
Robert Burns photo
Robert Burns: 114 quotes13 likes

Robert Burns Quotes

“O Life! how pleasant is thy morning,
Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like schoolboys at th' expected warning,
To joy and play.”

Robert Burns

Epistle to James Smith.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“To make a happy fireside clime
To weans and wife,—
That is the true pathos and sublime
Of human life.”

Robert Burns

Epistle to Dr. Blacklock.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“The landlady and Tam grew gracious
Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious.”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 47

“Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae farewell, alas, forever!”

Robert Burns Ae fond kiss, and then we sever...

Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever, st. 1
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

“Oh, my Luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly played in tune.”

Robert Burns

A Red, Red Rose, st. 1
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

“That hour, o' night's black arch the keystane.”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 69

“On ev'ry hand it will allowed be,
He's just—nae better than he should be.”

Robert Burns

A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton (1786)

“I waive the quantum o' the sin,
The hazard of concealing:
But, och! it hardens a' within,
And petrifies the feeling!”

Robert Burns

Stanza 6
Epistle to a Young Friend (1786)

“And like a passing thought, she fled
In light away.”

Robert Burns

The Vision.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“O life! thou art a galling load,
Along a rough, a weary road,
To wretches such as I!”

Robert Burns

Despondency.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Dweller in yon dungeon dark,
Hangman of creation, mark!
Who in widow weeds appears,
Laden with unhonoured years,
Noosing with care a bursting purse,
Baited with many a deadly curse?”

Robert Burns

Ode on Mrs. Oswald.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Green grow the rashes, O;
Green grow the rashes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend
Are spent among the lasses, O.”

Robert Burns Green Grow the Rashes

Green Grow the Rashes, O, chorus (1787)

“There's nought but care on ev'ry han',
In every hour that passes, O:
What signifies the life o' man,
An' then she made the lasses, O.”

Robert Burns Green Grow the Rashes

Green Grow the Rashes, O, st. 1 (1787)

“John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surprised them all.”

Robert Burns John Barleycorn

John Barleycorn, st. 3 (1787)

“If naebody care for me,
I'll care for naebody.”

Robert Burns

I Hae a Wife o' my Ain (1788)

“The golden Hours on angel wings
Flew o'er me and my Dearie;
For dear to me as light and life
Was my sweet Highland Mary.”

Robert Burns Highland Mary

Highland Mary, st. 2 (1792)

“Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learning I desire.”

Robert Burns

First Epistle to J. Lapraik, st. 13 (1786)

“The landlord's laugh was ready chorus.”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 50

“We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine.”

Robert Burns

Auld Lang Syne.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“He turn'd him right and round about
Upon the Irish shore;
And gae his bridle reins a shake,
With adieu forevermore,
My dear—
And adieu forevermore!”

Robert Burns

It Was A' for Our Rightfu' King, st. 3
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

“For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!”

Robert Burns

Auld Lang Syne, chorus (1788)

“The social, friendly, honest man,
Whate'er he be,
'Tis he fulfills great Nature's plan,
And none but he!”

Robert Burns

Second Epistle to J. Lapraik, st. 15 (1786).

“From scenes like these, old Scotia's grandeur springs,
That makes her loved at home, revered abroad:
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings,
"An honest man's the noblest work of God."”

Robert Burns The Cotter's Saturday Night

Stanza 19
The Cotter's Saturday Night (1786)

“His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony:
Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither—
They had been fou for weeks thegither.”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 43

“Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious.”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 57

“The heart benevolent and kind
The most resembles God.”

Robert Burns

A Winter Night (1787)

“Misled by fancy's meteor ray,
By passion driven;
But yet the light that led astray
Was light from heaven.”

Robert Burns

The Vision, II, st. 18 (1786)

“Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi' tippenny, we fear nae evil;
Wi' usquabae, we'll face the devil!”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 105

“Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet
To think how monie counsels sweet,
How monie lengthened, sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises!”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 33.

“Nae man can tether time or tide.”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 67

“His lockèd, lettered, braw brass collar
Showed him the gentleman an' scholar.”

Robert Burns

The Twa Dogs, st. 3 (1786)

“John Anderson, my jo, John,
When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonie brow was brent;
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your locks are like the snaw,
But blessings on your frosty pow,
John Anderson, my jo!”

Robert Burns

John Anderson, My Jo, st. 1
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

“An' there began a lang digression
About the lords o' the creation.”

Robert Burns

The Twa Dogs, st. 6 (1786)

“The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that.
For a' that an a' that.”

Robert Burns

A Man's A Man For A' That, st. 1 (1795)

“The fear o' hell 's a hangman's whip
To haud the wretch in order;
But where ye feel your honour grip,
Let that aye be your border.”

Robert Burns

Stanza 8
Epistle to a Young Friend (1786)

“T is sweeter for thee despairing
Than aught in the world beside,—Jessy!”

Robert Burns Here's A Health

Jessy.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“It was a' for our rightfu' King
We left fair Scotland's strand.”

Robert Burns

It Was A' for Our Rightfu' King, st. 1
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

“Chords that vibrate sweetest pleasure
Thrill the deepest notes of woe.”

Robert Burns

Sensibility How Charming, st. 4
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

“If there's another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.”

Robert Burns

Epitaph on William Muir
Posthumous Pieces (1799)

“Here lies Boghead amang the dead
In hopes to get salvation;
But if such as he in Heav'n may be,
Then welcome, hail! damnation. ”

Robert Burns

“Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!”

Robert Burns To a Mouse

To a Mouse, st. 1 (1785)

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min?'
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne?”

Robert Burns

Auld Lang Syne, st. 1 (1788)

“O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion.
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us
An' ev'n Devotion”

Robert Burns To a Louse

To a Louse, st. 8 (1786) http://www.poetry-online.org/burns_to_a_louse.htm

“To see her is to love her,
And love but her forever;
For Nature made her what she is,
And never made anither!”

Robert Burns

Bonny Lesley
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Ah, Tam! Ah! Tam! Thou'll get thy fairin!
In hell they'll roast you like a herrin!”

Robert Burns Tam o' Shanter

Source: Tam o' Shanter (1790), Line 201

“Some books are lies frae end to end.”

Robert Burns

Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 1 (1787)

“Ye're aiblins nae temptation.”

Robert Burns

Address to the Unco Guid, st. 6 (1787)

“O, my luve’s like a red, red rose, That’s newly sprung in June.”

Robert Burns

Source: A Red, Red Rose