Partings

As two floating planks meet and part on the sea,
O friend! so I met and then drifted from thee.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger, from The Poetry of the East (1856). The Brief Chance-Encounter

How blest my days, my thoughts how free,
In sweet society with thee!
~ William Blackstone, in The Biographical History of Sir William Blackstone (1782). A Lawyer's Farewell to His Muse

Soon as she was gone from me,
A traveller came by,
Silently, invisibly:
He took her with a sigh.
~ William Blake, MS. Notebooks

What then is there left for me to do? Not count the weeks, the days and the hours which will bring me again into her sweet company ...
~ William Booth (at the grave of his wife), quoted in Blood and Fire (1999).

Sweets to the sweet! a long adieu!
~ William Lisle Bowles, from The Spirit of Discovery by Sea (1804). Book IV

When my baby left me, she left me broken down
She said Goodbye Big Bill, I will see you in another town.
~ William Lee Conley ("Big Bill") Broonzy, Big Bill Blues (Song, 1932).

So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things ...
~ William Bradford (on leaving Holland for America; this passage is the origin for the term "Pilgrim").

A tear in thy sweet eyelids shine
For him whose latest thought was thine?
~ William Cullen Bryant, The Farewell (1809).

If we who have sailed together
Flit out of each other's view,
The world will sail on, I think,
Just as it used to do.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from Farm Ballads (1873). One and Two

I think I left at the right time. You've got to know when to get the hell off the stage, and the timing was right for me. The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself.
~ "Johnny" William Carson, in Esquire Magazine (June 2002). The Man Who Retired

That ain't gonna happen. Uh-uh. I know NBC means well. But I am retired. I ain't going back on television. I made that decision a long time ago and it's served me well.
~ "Johnny" William Carson, in Esquire Magazine (June 2002). The Man Who Retired

Some authority on parenting once said, "Hold them very close and then let them go." This is the hardest truth for a father to learn: that his children are continuously growing up and moving away from him (until, of course, they move back in).
~ Bill Cosby, Fatherhood (1986). Chapter 14

May I but meet thee on that peaceful shore
The parting word shall pass my lips no more!
~ William Cowper, from Poems (1798). On Receipt Of My Mother's Picture (written in 1790).

When I think of my own native land
In a moment I seem to be there;
But, alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair.
~ William Cowper, Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk (1782).

Bill don't go, it's OK, we love you.
~ Billy Crystal (to Bill Murray after he lost the Best Actor award), Hosting the 76th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles CA (29 February 2004).

We have come to the end of an unusual experiment. This experiment was to determine whether a group of Americans constituting a cross section of racial origins, of abilities, temperaments and talents could meet and risk an encounter with the long-established and well-trained enemy organizations. ... You can go with the assurance that you have made a beginning in showing the people of America that only by decisions of national policy based upon accurate information can we have the chance of a peace that will endure.
~ William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan, Remarks to staff on the dissolution of OSS, The Office of Strategic Services, Washington D.C. (28 September 1945).

So your flesh shall be part of mine
And part of mine be yours.
Brother and sister we shall be
Whose unity endures.
Always the sister doll will cry,
Made in these careful ways,
Cry on and on, Come back to me,
Come back, in a few days.
~ William Empson, from Collected Poems (1948). Chinese Ballad.

Why should I say goodbye, my dear?
Why should I say goodbye?
I go, yet still I'll be with thee,
And stayng here, thou shalt be with me!
~ William Freeland, from A Birth Song: And Other Poems (1882). Goodbye

For years I have been mourning and not for my dead, it is for this boy for whatever corner in my heart died when his childhood slid out of my arms.
~ William Gibson, A Season in Heaven; Being The Log Of An Expedition After That Legendary Beast, Cosmic Consciousness (1974).

Go and do your best endeavour,
And before all links we sever,
We will say farewell for-ever.
Go to glory and the grave!
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Pirates of Penzance. Act II (1880 opera)

This is no other place
Than where I am, between
This word and the next.
Maybe I should expect
To find myself only
Saying that again
Here now at the end.
~ William Sydney (W.S.) Graham, from Collected Poems 1942-1977 (1979). The Dark Dialogues (c. 1959)

She went so softly and so soon,
She hardly made a stir;
But going took the stars and moon
And sun away with her.
~ William Griffith, from Loves and Losses of Pierrot (1916). Pierrette in Memory

Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone, but part while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship, it is not worth embalming.
~ William Hazlitt, Table-talk; Or, Original Essays, Volume II (1825 edition). On The Conduct Of Life; or, Advice to a School-Boy (1822 essay)

Once a renegado, and always a renegado.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

I have made it a rule to quit those persons I loved, when doomed to separate, without announcing the precise hour of departure.
~ William Hickey, in Memoirs of William Hickey (1808-10).

I left in love, in laughter, and in truth, and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.
~ Bill Hicks, Piece written and requested be read at his memorial service (February 1994).

'Tis well our feeble eyes can't look,
Into the volume of fate's book,
For then our happiness must end,
To read of parting with a friend.
~ William Hutton, The Barbers; or, The Road to Riches (1793).

If you said good-bye to me tonight,
There would still be music left to write.
~ Billy Joel, in An Innocent Man (1983 album). The Longest Time

So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last, some will just be now and then.
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes,
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again.
~ Billy Joel, Say Goodbye to Hollywood

I think we leave this project with an empty part in our heart for their families.
~ Rear Adm. William Klemm, The Associated Press (8 November 2001). Navy Ends Search for Sub Victim

Old friends, old faiths, old ways where life began,
Farewell. I love you all. I follow Truth.
~ William Cranston Lawton, from Folia Dispersa (1895). Parting of the Ways (England, 1881)

Just as we were ready to leave and return to camp we took off our hats, and then overlooking the scene of so much trial, suffering and death spoke the thought upper most saying, "Good-bye, Death Valley!"
~ William Lewis Manly, Death Valley in '49: The Autobiography of a Pioneer (1894). Chapter X: Death Valley

I remember that last season I played. I went home after a ballgame one day, lay down on my bed, and tears came to my eyes. How can you explain that? You cry because you love her. I cried, I guess, because I loved baseball and I knew I had to leave it.
~ Willie Howard Mays Jr.

[I] had inadvertently walked through a door that I shouldn't have gone through and couldn't get back to the place I hadn't meant to leave.
~ William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., So Long, See You Tomorrow (1980).

Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.
~ William Stanley (W.S.) Merwin, in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. Volume 99. (January 1962). Separation

A little while before farewell?
~ William Morris, from Poems by the Way (1891). Pain and Time Strive Not

Had she come all the way for this,
To part at last without a kiss?
~ William Morris, The Defence of Guenevere, and Other Poems (1858). The Haystack in the Floods

It is hard to say farewell to a hope that has cheered us.
~ William Henry Harrison (H.H.) Murray, from Park Street Pulpit (1871). Death a Gain

From what you would know and measure, you must take leave, at least for a time. Only after having left town, you see how high its towers rise above the houses.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (1887).

One must separate from anything that forces one to repeat No again and again.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Ecce Homo (1888).

One should part from life as Odysseus parted from Nausicaa: with a blessing rather than in love.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1885-86).

The melancholia of everything completed!
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1885-86).

O men! it must ever be
That we dwell, in our dreaming and singing,
A little apart from ye.
~ Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy, from Music and Moonlight: Poems and Songs (1874). Ode

To be estranged from one whom we have tenderly and constantly loved, is one of the bitterest trials the heart can ever know.
~ William Prynne

Good night! my mighty soul's inclin'd to roam,
So make my compliments to all at home.
~ William B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso (1810). Act I, scene iv

It's past time to go when you start asking yourself if it's time to go.
~ William Rotsler

We begin to see that the completion of an important project has every right to be dignified by a natural grieving process. Something that required the best of you has ended. You will miss it.
~ Anne Wilson Schaef, Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much (1990).

My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that's true,
For we've been comrades, you and I
--I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now!
Old Year, good-bye!
~ Robert William Service

Away, slight man!
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act IV, scene iii

Come, my coach! Good-night, ladies; good-night, sweet ladies; good-night, good-night.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act IV, scene v

Drink some wine ere you go: fare you well.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act III, scene v

Eating the bitter bread of banishment.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard II

Exit, pursued by a bear.
~ William Shakespeare, stage direction in The Winter's Tale

Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness!
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII. Act III, scene ii

[F]arewell, bastard.
~ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida. Act V, scene vii

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act II, scene ii

Get gone, you dwarf!
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act III, scene ii

Good-night, good-night! parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act II, scene ii

Good-night sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act V, scene ii

I am glad on't: I desire no more delight
Than to be under sail and gone to-night.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene vi

I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act III, scene v

Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
~ William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens. Act I, scene ii

[M]isery doth part
The flux of company.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Act II, scene i

My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 50

Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your Grace, for trouble being gone, comfort should remain; but when you depart from me, sorrow abides and happiness takes his leave.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act I, scene i

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act II, scene ii

Shall not be long but I'll be here again:
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act IV, scene ii

So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:
Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act II, scene ii

So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act III, scene ii

Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act III, scene iv

Sweets to the sweet: farewell!
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act V, scene i

The game is up.
~ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline. Act III, scene iii

There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:
What our contempt doth often hurl from us,
We wish it ours again; the present pleasure,
By revolution lowering, does become
The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

Unbidden guests
Are often welcomest when they are gone.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part I

We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene ii

Yourself shall feast with us before you go.
~ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida. Act I, scene iii

It was the most difficult thing in the world, when I went to tell the chairman. It was like walking to the electric chair. That's the way it felt.
~ Bill Shankly (on his resignation from the Liverpool football club in July 1974)

So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return.
~ William Shenstone, A Pastoral Ballad in Four Parts (written in 1743). I: Absence

Before we drained out one another's force
With lies, self-denial, unspoken regret
And the sick eyes that blame; before the divorce
And the treachery.
~ William De Witt (W.D.) Snodgrass, from Selected Poems 1957-1987 (1987). Sorting out letters and piles of my old canceled checks

I happened to find
Your picture. That picture. I stopped there cold,
Like a man raking piles of dead leaves in his yard
Who has turned up a severed hand.
~ William De Witt (W.D.) Snodgrass, from Selected Poems 1957-1987 (1987). Sorting out letters and piles of my old canceled checks

If only once in all those years,
the right goodby could have been said!
~ William Stafford (of his father's death), Elegy

When, full of warm and eager love,
I clasp you in my fond embrace,
You gently push me back and say,
"Take care, my dear, you'll spoil my lace."
~ William Wetmore Story, from Graffiti d'Italia (1868). Snowdrop

I'm a free man, found innocent, and yet the subject of unfair dismissal.
~ Sir William Stubbs (on dismissal from his job at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority after being cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent inquiry), BBC News (28 September 2002). Watchdog's anger over A-level sacking

And so it is over; but we had a jolly time, while you were with us, hadn't we?
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers (1863). Round About the Christmas-Tree

Good night. Good night, friends, old and young! The night will fall: the stories must end: and the best friends must part.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip (1862). Chapter XLII. The Realms of Bliss

Parting and forgetting! What faithful heart can do these? Our great thoughts, our great affections, the Truths of our life, never leave us. Surely, they cannot separate from our consciousness; shall follow it whithersoever that shall go; and are of their nature divine and immortal.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond (1852). Book III. Chapter VI: Poor Beatrix

Parting is death, at least as far as life is concerned.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes (1853-55). Chapter XV

'Tis said that absence conquers love;
But oh believe it not!
I've tried, alas! its power to prove,
But thou art not forgot.
~ Frederick William Thomas, Absence Conquers Love

Unfortunately, many forces at work produced a kind of "perfect storm." Notwithstanding my best efforts to communicate the facts accurately and forthrightly, media interest shows no sign of abatement. I know believe my continued presence on the Board will only generate more distractions which will not be helpful to the important mission of the Board. Therefore I must step aside.
~ William H. Webster (resigning as head of a new board overseeing the accounting profession), Letter to Harvey L. Pitt (12 November 2002).

As she said goodbye, she said: "Any good parties, invite me down." I said "Yes," but there was no way. I knew full well that if I invited her down, she would dance me under the table.
~ Prince William (in press interview at York House), The Associated Press (6 April 2002). Teen Princes Recall Queen Mother

We met, we lived and dear we loved
Then came that fatal day
The love that we felt so dear
Fade far away
To night we both are alone
And heres all that I can say
I love you still and all ways will
But thats the price we have to pay.
~ Hank Williams, (December 1952)

By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run.
~ Hank Williams, Jr., Statement on Hankjr.com (3 October 2011). Hank Jr. reacts to being pulled from ESPN from the Oct 3rd Monday Night game opener.

Now that she has left the room for a moment
to powder her nose,
we watch and wait, watch and wait,
for her to bring back the purpose into our lives.
~ Hugo Williams, Billy's Rain (1999). During An Absence

The ones that understand, that took time to get to know me and what I sacrificed and how I played the game, I don't need to tell them anything. The ones that don't know that -- I'm just sorry they didn't experience that when I was their teammate.
~ Ricky Williams, The San Francisco Chronicle (21 November 2004). NFL dropout Ricky Williams chilling in Sierra: He's been found studying the healing arts

The day I wrote this I played it to my then girlfriend and I had closed my eyes to sing it. ... When I opened them again she was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room -- still, time heals all wounds.
~ Robbie Williams (on the song, Sexed Up, which includes the repeated line: "Why don't we break up?"), BBC News (28 October 2002). Robbie slates reality pop shows

I will him to touch
us now, to take care us, to know what
we need is him and his name. He slap
the car door, say, drive careful and turn
to go. If he let us go now ... how
we gon ever take him back? I ease
out on the clutch, mash in on the gas.
The only answer I get is his back.
~ Sherley Anne Williams, The Peacock Poems (1975). If he let us go now

In spite of all the terrible things that have been said about me by the knights of the keyboard up there. ... And they were terrible things, I'd like to forget them, but I can't. I want to say that my years in Boston have been the greatest thing in my life.
~ Theodore Samuel ("Ted") Williams (addressing the crowd before his final game at Fenway Park), in The New Yorker magazine (22 October 1960). Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu

Those who ignore the appropriate time of their going
Are the most valiant explorers,
Going into a country that no one is meant to go into,
The time coming after that isn't meant to come after.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, from In the Winter of Cities (1956 edition). Those Who Ignore the Appropriate Time of Their Going

Divorce is
the sign of knowledge in our time,
divorce! divorce!
~ William Carlos Williams, Paterson (1946). Book 1, The Delineaments of the Giants

Let us weep in our darkness, but weep not for him!
Not for him who, departing, leaves millions in tears!
Not for him who has died full of honor and years!
Not for him who ascended Fame's ladder so high:
From the round at the top he has stepped to the sky.
~ Nathaniel Parker (N.P.) Willis, The Poems, Sacred, Passionate, And Humorous (1844 edition). The Death of Harrison. Stanza 5

Angels listen when she speaks:
She's my delight, all mankind's wonder;
But my jealous heart would break
Should we live one day asunder.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl Of Rochester, (Song).

I was angry. I felt like, "Wait a minute, we've just started. It's only been two years!" I felt like it would last forever. And it didn't. I crashed hard, and it hurt. Then I got nervous, like, "What am I gonna do?"
~ Carnie Wilson (on the break-up of Wilson Phillips), in TV Guide Magazine (November 2000). Carnie Wilson: Playboy Playmate?

There has been a wedge in our friendship ever since she left the group and I honestly do not know why. I'm the best friend she has ever had in her life. No one would wait around 30 years for a friendship the way I've waited. And I'm still waiting.
~ Mary Wilson, CNN TV (20 April 2000). Diana Ross' tour excludes old partner, friend

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she goes away.
~ Bill Withers, in Just As I Am (1971 album). Ain't No Sunshine

With earnest feeling I shall pray
For thee when I am far away.
~ William Wordsworth, from Memorials of a Tour in Scotland (1803). V. To A Highland Girl

I didn't want to do it just for the money. I saw no reason to stay because I didn't see anything more to achieve within that band apart from increasing my bank balance. We'd achieved everything we wanted to do. There was nothing more to aim for. And I wanted to move on I was getting older then the rest of them.
~ Bill Wyman (William George Perks) (on leaving The Rolling Stones in 1993), in The Ottawa Sun (21 February 1999). Wyman keeps Rolling along

The reason I left was because I didn't see anything new happening in the future ... I didn't see any reason for doing that any more just for the money or anything. That's why I left, just to do things I wanted to do, instead of things I was obliged to do.
~ Bill Wyman (William George Perks) (on leaving The Rolling Stones in 1993), in The London Free Press (26 July 2001). At least one of the Rolling Stones keeps his word to return to London

Farewell -- farewell,
For I am weary of the weight of time.
~ William Butler Yeats, The Hour-Glass (1912 version).

Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.
~ William Butler Yeats, from Last Poems (1938-39). The Circus Animals' Desertion

The hour of the waning of love has beset us,
And weary and worn are our sad souls now;
Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us,
With a kiss and a tear on thy drooping brow.
~ William Butler Yeats, from Crossways (1889). The Falling Of The Leaves

They are gone, they are gone. The proud may lie by the proud.
~ William Butler Yeats, Deirdre (1906 play).