“Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true, And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.”

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850), No. XLIV

About Elizabeth Barrett Browning

1806 – 1861

English poet of the Victorian era, author of 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'.

“I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless.”

“Measure not the work until the day's out and the labour done.”

“Every wish is like a prayer—with God.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”