The ephemeral

Explore 10 quotes about The ephemeral

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Sonnets

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Topic

Summer The ephemeral Seasons

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Sonnet 18 Shakespeare's Sonnets

Medium

Sonnet Poem

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile Question

Language

English

Time

1609 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Shake-speares Sonnets. London: Thomas Thorpe, 1609, sonnet 18, I. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Sonnets." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, sonnet 18.

But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed,
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white - then melts for ever.

Robert Burns

Tam o' Shanter

More information about this quote

Topic

Pleasure The ephemeral

Author

Robert Burns

Source

Tam o' Shanter

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1791 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Burns, Robert. "Tam O'Shanter." Edinburgh Herald/Edinburgh Magazine, Mar. 1791.

Current Citation

Burns, Robert. "Tam O'Shanter." Robert Burns: Selected Poems, edited by Carol Mcguirk. Penguin Classics, 1994.

Beauty's of a fading nature,
Has a season, and is gone!

Robert Burns

More information about this quote

Topic

Beauty fades The ephemeral Beauty

Author

Robert Burns

Source

Will Ye Go and Marry Katie?

Medium

Song

Language

English

Time

1764 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Burns, Robert. Will Ye Go and Marry Katie? c. 1764.

Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud.
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

Nagarjuna

More information about this quote

Topic

The ephemeral Impermanence

Author

Nagarjuna

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Sanskrit

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra [The Diamond Sutra]. c. 868.

Current Citation

The Diamond Sutra, translated by Red Pine. Counterpoint, 2002.

Everything that man esteems
Endures a moment or a day.
Love's pleasure drives his love away,
The painter's brush consumes his dreams.

W.B. Yeats

More information about this quote

Topic

The ephemeral

Author

W.B. Yeats

Source

Two Songs From a Play

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1928 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "Two Songs From a Play." The Tower. Macmillan & Company, 1928.

Current Citation

Yeats, William Butler. "Two Songs From a Play." The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. Wordsworth Editions, 2000.

Everything that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.

William Shakespeare

Sonnet 15

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More information about this quote

Topic

The ephemeral Ripeness

Author

William Shakespeare

Source

Sonnet 15 Shakespeare's Sonnets

Medium

Sonnet Poem

Language

English

Time

1609 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Shakespeare, William. Shake-speares Sonnets. London: Thomas Thorpe, 1609, sonnet 15, I. 1.

Current Citation

Shakespeare, William. "The Sonnets." The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 3rd ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2015, sonnet 15.

Take your delight in momentariness,
Walk between dark and dark-a shining space
With the grave’s narrowness, though not its peace.

Robert Graves

More information about this quote

Topic

Shortness of life The ephemeral Life

Author

Robert Graves

Source

Sick Love

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1929 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Graves, Robert. "Sick Love." Poems 1929. Seizin Press, 1929, l. 10-12.

Current Citation

Graves, Robert. "Sick Love." The Complete Poems: In One Volume. Penguin Books, 2003, l. 10-12.

Loveliest of lovely things are they,
On earth, that soonest pass away.
The rose that lives its little hour
Is prized beyond the sculptured flower.

William Cullen Bryant

A Scene on the Banks of the Hudson

More information about this quote

Topic

The ephemeral

Author

William Cullen Bryant

Source

A Scene on the Banks of the Hudson

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1828 1820s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bryant, William Cullen. "A Scene on the Banks of the Hudson." Poems. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1839, st. 3.

The withered primrose by the mourning river,
The faded summer’s sun from weeping fountains,
The light-blown bubble vanished for ever,
The molten snow upon the naked mountains,
Are emblems that the treasures we up-lay
Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away.

Edmund Bolton

More information about this quote

Topic

Accumulation of wealth Impermanence The ephemeral The only constant is change

Author

Edmund Bolton

Source

A Palinode

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1600 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bolton, Edmund. A Palinode. c. 1600.

For poems are like rainbows: they escape you quickly.

Langston Hughes

Read I've Known Rivers at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Poetry Rainbows The ephemeral

Author

Langston Hughes

Source

The Big Sea

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1940 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Hughes, Langston. "I've Known Rivers." The Big Sea. Alfred A. Knopf, 1940.