Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Real sorrow is incompatible with hope. No matter how great that sorrow may be, hope raises it one hundred cubits higher.
Laborin' man an' laborin' woman Hev one glory an' one shame; Ev'y thin' thet' s done inhuman Injers all on 'em the same.
Christ was the first true democrat that ever breathed, as the old dramatist Dekkar said he was the first true gentleman.
If you gave me several million years, there would be nothing that did not grow in beauty if it were surrounded by water.
How sad they are, the promises we never return to. They stay in our mouths, roughen the tongue, lead lives of their own.
A certain amount of housekeeping also goes on in my poems. I wash doorknobs, do dishes, mop floors, patch carpets, cook.
Even if misfortune is only good for bringing a fool to his senses, it would still be just to deem it good for something.
His calumny is not only the greatest benefit a rogue can confer on us, but the only service he will perform for nothing.
The generous person is always just, and the just who is always generous may, unannounced, approach the throne of heaven.
I have done one braver thing than all the Worthies did, and yet a braver thence doth spring, which is, to keep that hid.
Be circumspect how you offend schollers, for knowe, a serpent tooth bites not so ill, as dooth a schollers angrie quill.
And the more you spend in blessing The poor and lonely and sad, The more of your heart's possessing Returns to you glad.
With silence only as their benediction, God's angels come Where in the shadow of a great affliction, The soul sits dumb!
Blest are the pure in heart, for they shall see our God. The secret of the Lord is theirs; Their soul is Christ's abode.
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
Man hath his daily work of body or mind Appointed, which declares his dignity, And the regard of Heav'n on all his ways.
Man loves liberty, even if he does not know that he loves it. He is driven by it and flees from where it does not exist.
Terrible times in which priests no longer merit the praise of poets and in which poets have not yet begun to be priests.
Do not wait for a poem; a poem is too fast for you. Do not wait for the poem; run with the poem and then write the poem.
Zion, thou art doubtless anxious for news of thy captives; they ask after thee, they who are the remainder of thy flock.
We are all easily taught to imitate what is base and depraved. [Lat., Dociles imitandis Turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus.]
I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.
What is found now is found then. If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death.
The often heard lament, 'I have so little time,' gives the lie to the delusion that the daily is of little significance.
I think it's time to admit that our writing is guided by the technology we use as much as it is by our own subjectivity.
Men who live like Casanova are seldom interested in themselves; their egocentricity does not give them time for egotism.
Let there be spaces in your togetherness...just as strings of a lute dance alone though they quiver with the same music.
Looks like what drives me crazy Don't have no effect on you-- But I'm gonna keep on at it Till it drives you crazy, too.
Poetry is a sleep-maker for that which sits up late in us listening for the footfall of the future on to-day's doorstep.
The real difference between those who want to write and those that do, is that those that do get up every day and do it.
Nothing but love can answer to love; no affection, no kindness, no care, can supply its place: it is its own sweet want.
Infinite is a meaningless word: except – it states / The mind is capable of performing / an endless process of addition.
The master said you must write what you see / But what I see does not move me / The master answered Change what you see.
Each language has its own temperament; some languages make a poem more dramatic or sad, and others make it more playful.
The strength of a nation, especially of a republican nation, is in the intelligent and well ordered homes of the people.
There is a lore simple and sure, that asks no discipline of weary years--the language of the soul, told through the eye.
Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful you find coexistence; it breaks walls down.
...we must be a beacon of hope, because if you tell people there's nothing they can do, they will do worse than nothing.
I suppose these deadlines we set for ourselves are really a way of saying we appreciate time, and want to use all of it.
Some travelers think they want to go to foreign places but are dismayed when the places turn out actually to be foreign.
EXTINCTATHON, Monitored by MaddAddam. Adam named the living animals, MaddAddam names the dead ones. Do you want to play?
The darkness is really out there. It's not something that's in my head, just. It's in my work because it's in the world.
For the children with their greedy little mouths represent the future, which like time itself will devour all now alive.
Some bioengineering is good, especially if it results in plants that are more drought-resistant or perennial food crops.
Laughter may instruct but it may also conceal, defending the joker against anger and retaliation: a game is only a game.
Back when I was in college, people used to talk about the alienation of the artist, not ever quite fitting in any place.
Women talk about love and silent about lovers, men - on the contrary: Speaking of mistresses, but are silent about love.
…I keep looking for one more teacher, only to find that fish learn from the water and birds learn from the sky.” (p.275)
The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own.
Far off in the red mangroves an alligator has heaved himself onto a hummock of grass and lies there, studying his poems.