Fairy Quotes

Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.
~William Butler Yeats, “The Land of Heart’s Desire,” 1894

Fairies are invisible and inaudible like angels. But their magic sparkles in nature. ~Lynn Holland

The fairy poet takes a sheet
Of moonbeam, silver white;
His ink is dew from daisies sweet,
His pen a point of light.
~Joyce Kilmer

Spread your wings and let the fairy in you fly! ~Author Unknown

Nothing can be truer than fairy wisdom. It is as true as sunbeams. ~Douglas Jerrold

The fairies break their dances
And leave the printed lawn.
~A.E. Housman

Princess Edane… heard a voice singing on a May Eve like this, and followed half awake and half asleep, until she came into the Land of Faery, where nobody gets old and godly and grave, where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue. ~William Butler Yeats, “The Land of Heart’s Desire,” 1894

When the winds of March are wakening the crocuses and crickets,
Did you ever find a fairy near some budding little thickets,…
And when she sees you creeping up to get a closer peek
She tumbles through the daffodils, a playing hide and seek.

[E]very time a child says, “I don’t believe in fairies,” there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead. ~James Matthew Barrie, Peter Pan

This is a work of fiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof. ~Neil Gaiman

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
~William Butler Yeats, “The Stolen Child”

A lady, with whom I was riding in the forest, said to me, that the woods always seemed to her to wait, as if the genii who inhabit them suspended their deeds until the wayfarer has passed onward: a thought which poetry has celebrated in the dance of the fairies, which breaks off on the approach of human feet. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “History”

We the Fairies, blithe and antic,
Of dimensions not gigantic,
Though the moonshine mostly keep us,
Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.
~Thomas Randolph

Each fairy breath of summer, as it blows with loveliness, inspires the blushing rose. ~Author Unknown

No child but must remember laying his head in the grass, staring into the infinitesimal forest and seeing it grow populous with fairy armies. ~Robert Louis Stevenson, Essays in The Art of Writing

The wall is silence, the grass is sleep,
Tall trees of peace their vigil keep,
And the Fairy of Dreams with moth-wings furled
Plays soft on her flute to the drowsy world.
~Ida Rentoul Outhwaite

We call them faerie. We don’t believe in them. Our loss. ~Charles de Lint

And as the seasons come and go, here’s something you might like to know. There are fairies everywhere: under bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day. So listen, touch, and look around — in the air and on the ground. And if you watch all nature’s things, you might just see a fairy’s wing. ~Author Unknown

The Realm of Fairy is a strange shadow land, lying just beyond the fields we know. ~Author Unknown

Blind folk see the fairies.
Oh, better far than we,
Who miss the shining of their wings
Because our eyes are filled with things
We do not wish to see.
~Rose Fyleman

A rustle in the wind reminds us a fairy is near. ~Author Unknown

I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now? ~John Lennon

Soft moss a downy pillow makes, and green leaves spread a tent,
Where Faerie fold may rest and sleep until their night is spent.
The bluebird sings a lullaby, the firefly gives a light,
The twinkling stars are candles bright, Sleep, Faeries all, Good Night.
~Elizabeth T. Dillingham, “A Faery Song”

Wind chimes in your yard will serenade garden creatures — squirrels, fairies and angels. ~Author Unknown

There never was a merry world since the fairies left off dancing, and the Parson left conjuring. ~John Selden, “Parson,” Table Talk, 1689

Any man can lose his hat in a fairy-wind. ~Irish Saying

Wind chimes in your yard will serenade garden creatures — squirrels, fairies and angels. ~Author Unknown

There never was a merry world since the fairies left off dancing, and the Parson left conjuring. ~John Selden, “Parson,” Table Talk, 1689

Any man can lose his hat in a fairy-wind. ~Irish Saying

Garden fairies come at dawn,
Bless the flowers then they’re gone.
~Author Unknown

If we opened our minds to enjoyment, we might find tranquil pleasures spread about us on every side. We might live with the angels that visit us on every sunbeam, and sit with the fairies who wait on every flower. ~Samuel Smiles

When I sound the fairy call,
Gather here in silent meeting,
Chin to knee on the orchard wall,
Cooled with dew and cherries eating.
Merry, merry, Take a cherry
Mine are sounder, Mine are rounder
Mine are sweeter, For the eater
When the dews fall. And you’ll be fairies all.
~Robert Graves, “Cherry-Time,” Fairies and Fusiliers, 1918

Oh! where do fairies hide their heads,
When snow lies on the hills,
When frost has spoiled their mossy beds,
And crystallized their rills?
~Thomas Haynes Bayly

I think that people who can’t believe in fairies aren’t worth knowing. ~Tori Amos

And though you should live in a palace of gold, or sleep in a dried up ditch,
You could never be as poor as the fairies are, and never as rich.
~Rose Fyleman

Bring the buds of the hazel-copse,
Where two lovers kissed at noon;
Bring the crushed red wild-thyme tops
Where they murmured under the moon….
~Alfred Noyes, “A Spell (An Excellent Way to get a Fairy),” The Lord of Misrule and Other Poems, 1915 [Context note: As beautiful as this excerpt is, the remainder of the poem could be considered quite horrid, especially for the squeamish reader. —tεᖇᖇ¡·g]

Buttercups in the sunshine look like little cups of gold.
Perhaps the Faeries come to drink the raindrops that they hold.
~Elizabeth T. Dillingham, “A Faery Song”

Raindrops are like fairy whispers. ~Author Unknown

The little Plumpuppets are fairies of beds;
They have nothing to do but watch sleepyheads;
They turn down the sheets and they tuck you in tight,
And dance on your pillow to wish you good night!
~Christopher Morley

The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve; lovers to bed; ’tis almost fairy time. ~William Shakespeare

Deaf folk hear the fairies
However soft their song;
‘Tis we who lose the honey sound
Amid the clamor all around
That beats the whole day long.
~Rose Fyleman

I’ll seek a four-leaved shamrock in all thy fairy dells,
And if I find the charmed leaves, oh, how I’ll weave my spells!
~Samuel Lover

The fairies went from the world, dear,
Because men’s hearts grew cold:
And only the eyes of children see
What is hidden from the old…
~Kathleen Foyle

Come cuddle close in daddy’s coat
Beside the fire so bright,
And hear about the fairy folk
That wander in the night.
~Robert Bird

Are those the magic fairy wands
glistening on the tree
or only winter icicles that I see?
~Author Unknown

[W]hen the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy. So there ought to be one fairy for every boy or girl. ~James Matthew Barrie, Peter Pan

Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.
~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Deep within the winter forest among the snowdrift wide
You can find a magic place where all the fairies hide….
~Author Unknown

It’s easy to believe in magic when you’re young. Anything you couldn’t explain was magic then. It didn’t matter if it was science or a fairy tale. Electricity and elves were both infinitely mysterious and equally possible — elves probably more so. ~Charles de Lint

The Faeries went from the world dear
Because men’s hearts grew cold
And only the eyes of children see
What is hidden from the old.

And only the magic of love dear
Can ever turn the key
That unlocks the gates of Faerieland
To set the Sidhe folk free.

–Kathleen Foyle, The Little Good Folk

This is the fairy land. O spite of spites,
We talk with goblins, owls, and sprites!
If we obey them not, this will ensue:
They’ll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.
–William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors (Dromio of Syracuse at II, ii)