Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It sounds old-fashioned to say, but we have some kind of purpose for being here, not poets or writers, but all of us humans.
... Virtue owns a more eternal foe Than Force or Fraud: old Custom, legal Crime, And bloody Faith the foulest birth of Time.
Thou art Justice ne'er for gold May thy righteous laws be sold As laws are in England thou Shield'st alike the high and low.
Every artist has his or her struggle to work out in their work. The more powerful the struggle, the more persuasive the art.
Men are almost always cruel in their neighbors' faults; and make others' overthrow the badge of their own ill-masked virtue.
It is hard, but it is excellent, to find the right knowledge of when correction is necessary and when grace doth most avail.
For those roses bright, oh, those roses bright! I have twined them in my sister's locks That are hid in the dust from sight.
The more distant and distinct the relationship between two realities that are brought together, the more powerful the image.
We make our way through Everything like thread passing through fabric, giving shape to images that we ourselves do not know.
It is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.
How can I keep my soul in me, so that it doesn't touch your soul? How can I raise it high enough, past you, to other things?
Those tasks that have been entrusted to us are difficult; almost everything serious is difficult; and everything is serious.
I saw with open eyes, Singing birds sweet, Sold in the shops, For the people to eat, Sold in the shops of, Stupidity Street.
All beautiful things bring sadness, nor alone Sweet music, as our wisest Poet spake, Because in us keen longings they awake.
Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us. These, our bodies, possessed by light. Tell me we'll never get used to it.
A man not perfect, but of heart so high, of such heroic rage, That even his hopes became a part of earth's eternal heritage.
We mortals cross the ocean of this world Each in his average cabin of a life; The bests not big, the worst yields elbowroom.
Go in thy native innocence, rely On what thou hast of virtue, summon all, For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine.
Oh the wild joys of living! The leaping from rock to rock ... the cool silver shock of the plunge in a pool's living waters.
Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human.
Oh my luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June; Oh my luve's like the melodie That's sweetly played in tune.
I have often thought that if a well-grounded affection be not really a part of virtue, it is something extremely akin to it.
A movement got started for common schools, and by the end of the 19th century, 91 percent of Americans could read and write.
Golf is a worrier's game, inward, concentrated, a matter of inches, invented by the same people who gave us Presbyterianism.
For to be yong I wald not, for my wis, Off all this warld to mak me lord and king: The more of age, the nerar hevynnis blis.
Nocht is your fairnes bot ane faiding flour, Nocht is your famous laud and hie honour Bot wind inflat in uther mennis eiris.
A little saint best fits a little shrine, A little prop best fits a little vine, As my small cruse best fits my little wine.
Then be not coy, but use your time; And while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime, You may for ever tarry.
I've been to a lot of places and done a lot of things, but writing was always first. It's a kind of pain I can't do without.
No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.
To a resolute mind, wishing to do is the first step toward doing. But if we do not wish to do a thing it becomes impossible.
It has been more wittily than charitably said that hell is paved with good intentions; they have their place in heaven also.
Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk into the river. Listen to the ocean.
Your name is upon my tongue your image is in my sight your memory is in my heart where can I send these words that I write ?
This is how it always is when I finish a poem. A great silence overcomes me and I wonder why I ever thought to use language.
It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I've gone and come back, I'll find it at home.
There is my body, in it an ocean formed of his glory, all the creation, all the universes, all the galaxies, are lost in it.
Until the juice ferments a while in the cask, it isn't wine. If you wish your heart to be bright, you must do a little work.
Journey from the self to the Self and find the mine of gold. Leave behind what is sour and bitter and move toward the sweet.
God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.
Stop, open up, surrender the beloved blind silence. Stay there until you see you're looking at the light with infinite eyes.
A book may be compared to your neighbor: if it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early.
If thou tellest the sorrows of thy heart, let it be to him in whose countenance thou mayst be assured of prompt consolation.
If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.
I recognize now that the conditions that Indians are living in are the conditions that poor people everywhere are living in.
I wondered if people might not have had enough of Simon Armitage and wondered whether I hadn't had enough of Simon Armitage.
There is a dispute about the existence of God. Both sides try to hide that they killed Him - even before He came into being.
Better to be furious at one thing, become radiant with purpose. Better to love links and rhythms than all-embracing answers.
It is trust in our vast 'don't know' that allows room for the truth, that allows the next intuition to float to the surface.
There are many people that we meet in our lives. But only a very few will make a lasting impression on our minds and hearts.