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Quotes about dreams, verified at the source

Updated on How we verify quotes

Dreaming at night, dreaming one’s life, dreaming bigger: these quotes speak of both meanings of the word. Each has been checked word for word in the original work, with its source.

To copy to encourage a project, congratulate a graduate or accompany a wish.

Contents

Heartfelt

Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music: do I wake or sleep?

John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale, last lines, 1819 Verified quote Read its story
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I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W. B. Yeats, He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (The Wind Among the Reeds), last lines, 1899 Verified quote Read its story
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All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.

Edgar Allan Poe, A Dream Within a Dream, end of the first stanza, 1849 Verified quote Read its story
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Inspiring

If you venture in pursuit of glory, settle for nothing below the stars.

Al-Mutanabbi, قصيدة «إذا غامرت في شرف مروم» (ديوان المتنبي), مطلع القصيدة Sourced text Read the original and its meaning
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Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?

Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto (Men and Women), 1855 Verified quote Read its story
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To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses, last line, 1842 Verified quote Read its story
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Short

Dream is a second life.

Gérard de Nerval, Aurélia, opening sentence, 1855 Verified quote Read its story
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Frequently asked questions

Which quote to encourage someone to follow a dream?

A line on confidence and momentum, such as Thoreau’s on advancing in the direction of one’s dreams. Copy it with the author’s name.