Quotes from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“My love is selfish. I cannot breathe without you.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“You cannot conceive how I ache to be with you: how I would die for one hour...”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“I wish I was either in your arms full of faith, or that a Thunder bolt would strike me.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“You are always new. THe last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest. When you pass'd my window home yesterday, I was fill'd with as much admiration as if I had then seen you for the first time...Even if you did not love me I could not help an entire devotion to you.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Thou art a dreaming thing,
A fever of thyself.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“I never knew before, what such a love as you have made me feel, was; I did not believe in it; my Fancy was afraid of it, lest it should burn me up. But if you will fully love me, though there may be some fire, 'twill not be more than we can bear when moistened and bedewed with Pleasures.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.


Glanzvoller Stern! wär ich so stet wie du,
Nicht hing ich nachts in einsam stolzer Pracht!
SchautŽ nicht mit ewigem Blick beiseite zu,
Einsiedler der Natur, auf hoher Wacht
Beim Priesterwerk der Reinigung, das die See,
Die wogende, vollbringt am Meeresstrand;
Noch starrt ich auf die Maske, die der Schnee
Sanft fallend frisch um Berg und Moore band.
Nein, doch unwandelbar und unentwegt
MöchtŽ ruhn ich an der Liebsten weicher Brust,
Zu fühlen, wie es wogend dort sich regt,
Zu wachen ewig in unruhiger Lust,
Zu lauschen auf des Atems sanftes Wehen -
So ewig leben - sonst im Tod vergehen!”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Ask yourself my love whether you are not very cruel to have so entrammelled me, so destroyed my freedom. Will you confess this in the Letter you must write immediately, and do all you can to console me in it — make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me —write the softest words and kiss them that I may at least touch my lips where yours have been. For myself I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form: I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Closer of lovely eyes to lovely dreams,
Lover of loneliness, and wandering,
Of upcast eye, and tender pondering!
Thee must I praise above all other glories
That smile us on to tell delightful stories.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Through buried paths, where sleepy twilight dreams
The summer time away.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Let us away, my love, with happy speed;
There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see,
- Drown'd all in Rhenish and the sleepy mead.
Awake! arise! my love and fearless be,
For o'er the southern moors I have a home for thee.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“And how they kist each other's tremulous eyes.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“When it is moving on luxurious wings,
The soul is lost in pleasant smotherings.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“O let me lead her gently o'er the brook,
Watch her half-smiling lips and downward look;
O let me for one moment touch her wrist;
Let me one moment to her breathing list;
And as she leaves me, may she often turn
Her fair eyes looking through her locks auburne.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“I am sailing with thee through the dizzy sky!
How beautiful thou art!”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“When shall we pass a day alone? I have had a thousand kisses, for which with my whole soul I thank love - but if you should deny me the thousand and first - 'twould put me to the proof how great a misery I could live through.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“Softly the breezes from the forest came,
Softly they blew aside the taper's flame;
Clear was the song from Philomel's far bower;
Grateful the incense from the lime-tree flower;
Mysterious, wild, the far-heard trumpet's tone;
Lovely the moon in ether, all alone:
Sweet too, the converse of these happy mortals,
As that of busy spirits when the portals
Are closing in the west; or that soft humming
We hear around when Hesperus is coming.
Sweet be their sleep.”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“... and we will shade
Ourselves whole summers by a river glade;
And I will tell thee stories of the sky,
And breathe thee whispers of its minstrelsy,
My happy love will overwing all bounds!
O let me melt into thee! let the sounds
Of our close voices marry at their birth;
Let us entwine hoveringly!”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

“I could centre my Happiness in you, I cannot expect to engross your heart so entirely -- indeed if I thought you felt as much for me as I do for you at this moment I do not think I could restrain myself from seeing you again tomorrow for the delight of one embrace. But no -- I must live upon hope and Chance. In case of the worst that can happen, I shall still love you -- but what hatred shall I have for another!”
― John Keats, quote from Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

About the author

Popular quotes

“Ah, what sights and sounds and pain lie beneath that mist. And we had thought that our hard climb out of that cruel valley led to some cool, green and peaceful, sunlit place---but it's all jungle here, a wild and savage wilderness that's overrun with ruins. But put on your crown, my Queen, and we will build a New City on these ruins.”
― Eldridge Cleaver, quote from Soul on Ice

“People say that time heals all wounds, and maybe they're right. But what if the wounds don't heal correctly, like when cuts leave behind nasty scars, or when broken bones mend together, but aren't as smooth anymore? Does it mean they're really healed? Or is it that the body did what it could to fix what broke...”
― Jessica Sorensen, quote from Breaking Nova

“Alric looked at Reuben. “Is he telling the truth? I can have him ripped apart by dogs, you know. I love dogs. We use them to hunt, but they aren’t allowed to actually take down or eat their quarry. Always thought that was a shame, you know? I think they would appreciate the opportunity. It could be fun too. We could just let these fools run and bet on how far they can get before the dogs catch them.”

“I bet Horace doesn’t make it to the gate,” Mauvin said; then all heads turned to Reuben.

Ellison looked at him, too, his face frozen in a tense, wide-eyed stare.

“I wasn’t aware of any threat from Squire Ellison, Your Highness,” Reuben replied.

“Are you sure?” Alric pressed, and flicked a small yellow leaf off Ellison’s shoulder. “We don’t have to use the dogs.” He smiled and tilted his head toward the Pickerings. “They’d love to teach them a lesson, you know. In a way they’re a lot like hunting dogs—they never get the chance to kill anyone either. Ever since they reached their tenth birthday, no one has been stupid enough to challenge them.”

“I was, Your Highness,” Reuben said.

That got a laugh from the Pickerings and the prince, although Reuben didn’t know why. “Yes, you did, didn’t you?”

“That’s why you’re our friend,” Mauvin explained.

“He didn’t know who we were,” Fanen pointed out. “He had no idea about the skill of a Pickering blade.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Reuben said. His blood was still up from the fight, and his mouth ran away with him. “If I thought you were there to harm the princess, I would still have fought you.”

A moment of silence followed this and Reuben watched as Alric smiled; then he glanced at Mauvin and they laughed again. “Tell me, Hilfred, how are you at catching frogs?”
― Michael J. Sullivan, quote from The Rose and the Thorn

“Human conduct can be regulated, and it will be regulated! The”
― Philip Roth, quote from Indignation

“They will never be the same again because you just cannot be the same once you leave behind who and what you are, you just cannot be the same.”
― NoViolet Bulawayo, quote from We Need New Names

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.