Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk
Percy Bysshe Shelley Poet
Gender: Male
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Born: Aug 4, 1792
Died: Jul 8, 1822
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded by critics as amongst the finest lyric poets in the English language. A radical in his poetry as well as his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition for his poetry grew steadily following his death. Shelley was a key member of a close circle of visionary poets and writers that included Lord Byron; Leigh Hunt; Thomas Love Peacock; and his own second wife, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.
Shelley is perhaps best known for such classic poems as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud and The Masque of Anarchy. His other major works include long, visionary poems such as Queen Mab, Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, Adonaïs, the unfinished work The Triumph of Life; and the visionary verse dramas The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound.
His close circle of admirers, however, included some progressive thinkers of the day, including his future father-in-law, the philosopher William Godwin.
The great instrument of moral good is the imagination.
imagination
Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.
fear & future
Only nature knows how to justly proportion to the fault the punishment it deserves.
nature
Music, when soft voices die Vibrates in the memory.
music
Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.
best & poetry
In a drama of the highest order there is little food for censure or hatred it teaches rather self-knowledge and self-respect.
food