"Some rhyme a neebor's name to lash; Some rhyme (vain thought!) for needfu' cash; Some rhyme to court the countra clash, An' raise a din; For me, an aim I never fash; I rhyme for fun."

"Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme, My barmie noddle's working prime."

"There's some are fou o' love divine; There's some are fou o' brandy."

"Leeze me on drink! it gi'es us mair Than either school or college."

"Here, some are thinkin' on their sins, An' some upo' their claes."

"O life! thou art a galling load, Along a rough, a weary road, To wretches such as I!"

"O Life! how pleasant is thy morning, Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning! Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning, We frisk away, Like schoolboys at th' expected warning, To joy and play."

"What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted."

"An atheist-laugh's a poor exchange For Deity offended!"

"I waive the quantum o' the sin, The hazard of concealing; But, Och! it hardens a' within, And petrifies the feeling!"

"Perhaps it may turn out a sang: Perhaps turn out a sermon."

"Freedom and Whisky gang thegither."

"O thou! whatever title suit thee, Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie."

"Stern Ruin's plowshare drives elate, Full on thy bloom."

"Wee, modest, crimson-tippèd flow'r, Thou's met me in an evil hour; For I maun crush amang the stoure Thy slender stem: To spare thee now is past my pow'r, Thou bonie gem."

"O, wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An' foolish notion. What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us An' ev'n Devotion"

"Rejoiced they were na men, but dogs."

"An' there began a lang digression About the lords o' the creation."

"His lockèd, lettered, braw brass collar Showed him the gentleman an' scholar."

"And like a passing thought, she fled In light away."

"Misled by fancy's meteor ray, By passion driven; But yet the light that led astray Was light from heaven."

"It's hardly in a body's pow'r, To keep, at times, frae being sour."

"On ev'ry hand it will allowed be, He's just—nae better than he should be."

"For thus the royal mandate ran, When first the human race began, "The social, friendly, honest man, Whate'er he be, 'Tis he fulfills great Nature's plan, And none but he!""

"Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire, That's a' the learning I desire."

"O Death! the poor man's dearest friend, The kindest and the best!"

"Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn."

"Nature's law, That man was made to mourn."

"When chill November's surly blast Made fields and forests bare."

"All in this mottie, misty clime, I backward mus'd on wasted time, How I had spent my youthfu' prime An' done nae-thing, But stringing blethers up to rhyme For fools to sing."

"O L--d thou kens what zeal I bear, When drinkers drink, and swearers swear, And singin' there, and dancin' here, Wi' great an' sma'; For I am keepet by thy fear, Free frae them a'. But yet—O L--d—confess I must— At times I'm fash'd wi' fleshly lust... O L--d—yestreen thou kens—wi' Meg— Thy pardon I sincerely beg! O may 't ne'er be a living plague, To my dishonour! And I'll ne'er lift a lawless leg Again upon her."

"The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley; And leave us naught but grief and pain For promised joy."

"I'm truly sorry Man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal!"

"Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie, O what a panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle!"

"Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the rye, Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry?"

"If Browning were less difficult to read, he would surely be the dominant poet in this century. I feel the ecstasy with which he exclaims, “Oh, good gigantic smile o’ the brown old earth this autumn morning!" And how he sets my brain going when he says, because there is imperfection, there must be perfection; completeness must come of incompleteness; failure is an evidence of triumph for the fulness of the days. Yes, discord is, that harmony may be; pain destroys, that health may renew; perhaps I am deaf and blind that others likewise afflicted may see and hear with a more perfect sense! From Browning I learn that there is no lost good, and that makes it easier for me to go at life, right or wrong, do the best I know, and fear not. My heart responds proudly to his exhortation to pay gladly life's debt of pain, darkness and cold. Lift up your burden, it is God's gift, bear it nobly."

"He is called an optimist; but the word suggests a calculated contentment which was not in the least one of his vices. What he really was was a romantic. He offered the cosmos as an adventure rather than a scheme. He did not explain evil, far less explain it away: he enjoyed defying it. He was a troubadour even in theology and metaphysics: like the Jongleurs de Dieu of St. Francis. He may be said to have serenaded heaven with a guitar, and even, so to speak, tried to climb there with a rope ladder."

"He concentrated on the special souls of men; seeking God in a series of personal interviews."

"Perhaps one has to be very old before one learns to be amused rather than shocked."

"Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top."