Quotes by Robert Burns

“The heart and benevolent and kind the most resembles God.”

“He turnd him right and round about / Upon the Irish shore; / And gae his bridle-reins a shake, / With adieu for evermore, / My dear,/ Adieu for evermore.”

“No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.”

“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after Ive left the opera house.”

“I dont mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I dont understand.”

“When an opera star sings her head off, she usually improves her appearance”

“There are two sighs of relief every night in the life of an opera manager. The first comes when the curtain goes up The second sigh of relief comes when the final curtain goes down without any disaster, and one realizes, gratefully, that the miracle has happened again.”

“How wretched is the person who hangs on by the favors of the powerful.”

“I want someone to laugh with me, someone to be grave with me, someone to please me and help my discrimination with his or her own remark, and at times, no doubt, to admire my acuteness and penetration.”

The best laid schemes o mice an men gang aft agley.

But deep this truth impressd my mind: Thro all His works abroad,The heart benevolent and kindThe most resembles God.

There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.

My love is like a red, red rose Thats newly sprung in June: My love is like the melody Thats sweetly played in tune. How fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I; And I will love thee still, my dear, Till all the seas gang dry. Till all the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt with the sun;I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands of life shall run. And fare thee weel, my only love. And fare thee weel awhile! And I will come again, my love, Though it were ten thousand mile.

Some hae meat and canna eat,And some wad eat that want it,But we hae meat and we can eat,And sae the Lord be thankit.

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, timrous beastie,O, what a panics in thy breastie!

Flow gently, sweet Afton,amang thy green braes,Flow gently, Ill sing theea song in thy praise;My Marys asleepby thy murmuring stream,Flow gently, sweet Afton,disturb not her dream.Thou stock dove whose echoresounds thro the glen,Ye wild whistly blackbirdsin yon thorny den,Thou green crested lapwingthy screaming forbear,I charge you, disturb notmy slumbering fair.How lofty, sweet Afton,thy neighboring hills,Far markd with the coursesof clear winding rills;There daily I wanderas noon rises high,My flocks and my Maryssweet cot in my eye.How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, Where, wild in the woodlands,the primroses blow;There oft, as mild eveningweeps over the lea,The sweet-scented birk shadesmy Mary and me.Thy crystal stream, Afton,how lovely it glides,And winds by the cot wheremy Mary resides;How wanton thy watersher snowy feet lave,As, gathering sweet flowerets,she stems thy clear wave.Flow gently, sweet Afton,amang thy green braes,Flow gently, sweet river,the theme of my lays; My Marys asleepby thy murmuring stream,Flow gently, sweet Afton,disturb not her dreams.

While Europes eye is fixd on mighty things,The fate of empires and the fall of kings;While quacks of State must each produce his plan,And even children lisp the Rights of Man;Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,The Rights of Woman merit some attention.

Gin a body meet a bodyComing thro the rye,Gin a body kiss a body— Need a body cry?

The best laid schemes o Mice an Men, Gang aft agley.An leae us nought but grief an pain, For promis

Is there for honest Poverty That hings his head, an a that; The coward slave-we pass him by, We dare be poor for a that! For a that, an a that. Our toils obscure an a that, The rank is but the guineas stamp, The Mans the gowd for a that. What though on hamely fare we dine, Wear hoddin grey, an a that; Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine; A Mans a Man for a that: For a that, and a that, Their tinsel show, an a that; The honest man, tho eer sae poor, Is king o men for a that. Ye see yon birkie, cad a lord, Wha struts, an stares, an a that; Tho hundreds worship at his word, Hes but a coof for a that: For a that, an a that, His ribband, star, an a that: The man o independent mind He looks an laughs at a that. A prince can mak a belted knight, A marquis, duke, an a that; But an honest mans abon his might, Gude faith, he maunna fa that! For a that, an a that, Their dignities an a that; The pith o sense, an pride o worth, Are higher rank than a that. Then let us pray that come it may, (As come it will for a that,) That Sense and Worth, oer a the earth, Shall bear the gree, an a that. For a that, an a that, Its coming yet for a that, That Man to Man, the world oer, Shall brothers be for a that.