Let me go: take back thy gift:Why should a man desire in any wayTo vary from the kindly race of men,Or pass beyond the goal of ordinanceWhere all should pause, as is most meet for all?...Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears,And make me tremble lest a saying learnt,In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true?The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.- Tithonus
death destiny gifts gods immortality

About This Quote

About Alfred Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson was a 19th-century British poet laureate. Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson was an English poet. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Death — Contemplations on mortality, loss, and the legacy we leave

More quotes by Alfred Tennyson

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever.”
— Alfred Tennyson
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“Half the night I waste in sighs,Half in dreams I sorrow afterThe delight of early skies;In a wakeful dose I sorrowFor the hand, the lips, the eyes,For the meeting of the morrow,The delight of happy...”
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“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depths of some devine despairRise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, And thinking of the days ...”
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“I am a part of all that I have met.”
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“Come friends, it's not too late to seek a newer world.”
— Alfred Tennyson
advice encouragement hope inspirational
View all quotes by Alfred Tennyson →

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