The sad and solemn night hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires;
The glorious host of light walk the dark hemisphere till she retires;
All through her silent watches, gliding slow,
Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go.
—William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) American Romantic Poet, Journalist, Editor
For a moment I lost myself, actually lost my life. I was set free! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life . . . to life itself. I caught a glimpse of something greater than myself.
—Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) American Playwright
It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We are dancing in the hollow of nothingness. We are one flesh, but separated like stars.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
The gems of heaven, that gild night’s sable throne.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Be glad of life because it gives you to chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
What are ye orbs? The words of God? the Scriptures of the skies?
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
One sun by day; by night ten thousand shine, and light us deep into the deity.—How boundless in magnificence and might!—Stars teach as well as shine, and every student of the night inspire; the elder scripture writ by God’s own hand, authentic, uncorrupt by man.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Those who build beneath the stars build too low.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Ye stars, that are the poetry of heaven!
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Human folly does not impede the turning of the stars.
—Tom Robbins (1932–2025) American Novelist known for Seriocomic Fiction
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There they stand, the innumerable stars, shining in order like a living hymn, written in light.
—Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–67) American Poet, Playwright, Essayist
A star is beautiful; it affords pleasure, not from what it is to do, or to give, but simply by being what it is. It befits the heavens; it has congruity with the mighty space in which it dwells. It has repose; no force disturbs its eternal peace. It has freedom; no obstruction lies between it and infinity.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.
—Les Brown
Surely the stars are images of love.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
O powers illimitable! it is but the outer hem of God’s great mantle, our poor stars do gem.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Silent, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of angels.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
These preachers of beauty, which light the world with their admonishing smile.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars.
—Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) English Astronomer
The evening star, love’s harbinger, appeared.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it’s OK. But you’ve got to shoot for something. A lot of people don’t even shoot.
—Robert C. Townsend (1920–98) American Businessman
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
The stars are mansions built by nature’s hand, and, haply, there the spirits of the blest dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal rest.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
More look up and admire the stars. A champion climbs a mountain and grabs one.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940–2021) American Author of “Life’s Little Instruction Book”
The stars, Which stand as thick as dewdrops on the fields Of heaven.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
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