Poetry Quotes | Beyond Motive 2/14

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Poetry Quotes

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Philosopher

Poetry, Communication, Truth, Listening, Expression

12

"I wrote things for the school's newspaper, and - like all teenagers - I dabbled in poetry."

"I wrote things for the school's newspaper, and - like all teenagers - I dabbled in poetry."

Stephen Colbert, American Comedian

Poetry, School, Teenagers

12

"Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry."

"Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry."

Georges Braque, French Artist

Poetry, Reality

12

"Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance."

"Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance."

Carl Sandburg, American Poet

Poetry, Dance, Echo, Shadow

12

"Journalism wishes to tell what it is that has happened everywhere as though the same things had happened for every man. Poetry wishes to say what it is like for any man to be himself in the presence of a particular occurrence as though only he were alone there."

"Journalism wishes to tell what it is that has happened everywhere as though the same things had happened for every man. Poetry wishes to say what it is like for any man to be himself in the presence of a particular occurrence as though only he were alone there."

Archibald MacLeish, American Poet

Poetry, Journalism, Man, Wishes

12

"I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine-tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry."

"I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine-tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry."

Randall Jarrell, American Poet

Poetry, Culture, Intellectuals

12

"Poetry: the best words in the best order."

"Poetry: the best words in the best order."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Poet

Poetry, Order, Words

12

"With several different kinds of poetry to choose from, a man would decide that he would like best to be an epic poet, and he would set out, in conscious determination, on an epic poem."

"With several different kinds of poetry to choose from, a man would decide that he would like best to be an epic poet, and he would set out, in conscious determination, on an epic poem."

Lascelles Abercrombie, British Poet

Poetry, Determination, Man

12

"Lapped in poetry, wrapped in the picturesque, armed with logical sentences and inalienable words."

"Lapped in poetry, wrapped in the picturesque, armed with logical sentences and inalienable words."

Anatole Broyard, American Critic

12

"I've been told by many the art of poetry's dead, I believe it's alive on pages they haven't read."

"I've been told by many the art of poetry's dead, I believe it's alive on pages they haven't read."

Stanley Victor Paskavich, American Politician

Poetry, Art, Truth, Creativity

12

"Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo."

"Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo."

Don Marquis, American Poet

Poetry, Echo, Waiting, Writing

11

"When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous."

"When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought, you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous."

Norman MacCaig, Scottish Poet

Poetry, Thought, Writer

11

"I have had much to learn from Sweden's poetry and, more especially, from her lyrics of the last generation."

"I have had much to learn from Sweden's poetry and, more especially, from her lyrics of the last generation."

Knut Hamsun, Norwegian Author

11

"Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness."

"Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness."

Nathaniel Hawthorne, American Novelist

Poetry, Artist, Merit

11

"In fact a lot of them I think are absolute baloney. Those Charles Olsens and people like that. At first I was interested in seeing what they were up to, what they were doing, why they were doing it. They never moved me in the way that one is moved by true poetry."

"In fact a lot of them I think are absolute baloney. Those Charles Olsens and people like that. At first I was interested in seeing what they were up to, what they were doing, why they were doing it. They never moved me in the way that one is moved by true poetry."

Norman MacCaig, Scottish Poet

Poetry, People, Fact, First

11

"I despair of ever writing excellent poetry."

"I despair of ever writing excellent poetry."

Isaac Rosenberg, English Poet

Poetry, Despair, Writing

11

"I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry."

"I am two fools, I know, for loving, and for saying so in whining poetry."

John Donne, British Poet

Poetry, Fools, Saying

11

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot."

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot."

John Dryden, English Poet

Poetry, Dancing

11

"I've written you sixty-seven love poems.Here's another one for you.But really, for me.These poems are the candles that I light with the fire you have ignited in me.I place this candle here and another thereso even if the stars have argued with the moonand are sulking away in a corner, you can still find your way to me.Sixty-eight poems now. What does the future hold for us?Joy? Disappointment? Gentle caresses? And subtle neglect?I hope the good is more than the bad. Much more. For what is the point of loveif by lighting these candlesour own flame loses its brightness?I know the good is more than the bad. Much more.I cannot wait to write you sixty-nine."

"I've written you sixty-seven love poems.Here's another one for you.But really, for me.These poems are the candles that I light with the fire you have ignited in me.I place this candle here and another thereso even if the stars have argued with the moonand are sulking away in a corner, you can still find your way to me.Sixty-eight poems now. What does the future hold for us?Joy? Disappointment? Gentle caresses? And subtle neglect?I hope the good is more than the bad. Much more. For what is the point of loveif by lighting these candlesour own flame loses its brightness?I know the good is more than the bad. Much more.I cannot wait to write you sixty-nine."

Kamand Kojouri, Iranian Poet

Poetry, Love, Hope, Future

11

"Frankly, writing poetry for children is plain old fun, and I consider myself blessed to have such a delightful career."

"Frankly, writing poetry for children is plain old fun, and I consider myself blessed to have such a delightful career."

Jack Prelutsky, American Poet

Poetry, Career, Children, Fun

10

"A lyric, it is true, is the expression of personal emotion, but then so is all poetry, and to suppose that there are several kinds of poetry, differing from each other in essence, is to be deceived by wholly artificial divisions which have no real being."

"A lyric, it is true, is the expression of personal emotion, but then so is all poetry, and to suppose that there are several kinds of poetry, differing from each other in essence, is to be deceived by wholly artificial divisions which have no real being."

John Drinkwater, English Poet

Poetry, Being, Emotion, Expression

10

"So it is in poetry. All we ask is that the mood recorded shall impress us as having been of the kind that exhausts the imaginative capacity; if it fails to do this the failure will announce itself either in prose or in insignificant verse."

"So it is in poetry. All we ask is that the mood recorded shall impress us as having been of the kind that exhausts the imaginative capacity; if it fails to do this the failure will announce itself either in prose or in insignificant verse."

John Drinkwater, English Poet

Poetry, Failure, Prose, Will

10

"Poetry is one of the few nasty childhood habits I've managed to grow out of."

"Poetry is one of the few nasty childhood habits I've managed to grow out of."

Tom Holt, British Novelist

Poetry, Childhood, Habits

10

"Poetry is a succession of questions which the poet constantly poses."

"Poetry is a succession of questions which the poet constantly poses."

Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish Poet

Poetry, Questions

10

"The beauty, the poetry of the fear in their eyes. I didn't mind going to jail for, what, five, six hours? It was absolutely worth it."

"The beauty, the poetry of the fear in their eyes. I didn't mind going to jail for, what, five, six hours? It was absolutely worth it."

Johnny Depp, American Actor

Poetry, Beauty, Fear, Eyes

10

"We don't attempt to have any theme for a number of the anthology, or to have any particular sequence. We just put in things that we like, and then we try to alternate the prose and the poetry."

"We don't attempt to have any theme for a number of the anthology, or to have any particular sequence. We just put in things that we like, and then we try to alternate the prose and the poetry."

James Laughlin, American Poet

10

"I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I thought poetry could do."

"I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I thought poetry could do."

David Antin, American Poet

Poetry, Thought

10

"Why should poetry have to make sense?"

"Why should poetry have to make sense?"

Charlie Chaplin, English Actor

10

"I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more."

"I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more."

William Wordsworth, English Poet

Poetry, Music, Heart

10

"Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world, A limited, limiting clarity I have not and never did have any motive of poetry But to achieve clarity."

"Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world, A limited, limiting clarity I have not and never did have any motive of poetry But to achieve clarity."

George Oppen, American Poet

Poetry, Clarity, Motive, World

10

"And if they haven't got poetry in them, there's nothing you can do that will produce it."

"And if they haven't got poetry in them, there's nothing you can do that will produce it."

Norman MacCaig, Scottish Poet

Poetry, Nothing, Will

10

"I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry."

"I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry."

Norman MacCaig, Scottish Poet

Poetry, Writing

10

"If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel."

"If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel."

Jim Morrison, American Musician

10

"The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry."

"The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry."

David Hare, English Playwright

10

"Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is."

"Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is."

James Branch Cabell, American Novelist

Poetry, Being, Man, Rebellion

10

"Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it."

"Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it."

Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch Artist

10

"The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can't touch."

"The sort of poetry I seek resides in objects man can't touch."

E. M. Forster, English Novelist

10

"Always be a poet, even in prose."

"Always be a poet, even in prose."

Charles Baudelaire, French Poet

10

"Sometimes we believe in miracles, and stars fall from the sky, as if the moon had poured his tears in gold."

"Sometimes we believe in miracles, and stars fall from the sky, as if the moon had poured his tears in gold."

Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann, British Musician

Poetry, Miracle, Beauty, Hope, Truth

10

"PC stuff just lowers the general acceptance of good work and replaces it with bogus poetry that celebrates values that in themselves are probably quite worthy."

"PC stuff just lowers the general acceptance of good work and replaces it with bogus poetry that celebrates values that in themselves are probably quite worthy."

Diane Wakoski, American Poet

Poetry, Work, Values, Acceptance

9

"However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird."

"However, I learned something. I thought that if the young person, the student, has poetry in him or her, to offer them help is like offering a propeller to a bird."

Norman MacCaig, Scottish Poet

Poetry, Thought, Help

9

"In rap music, even though the element of poetry is very strong, so is the element of the drum, the implication of the dance. Without the beat, its commercial value would certainly be more tenuous."

"In rap music, even though the element of poetry is very strong, so is the element of the drum, the implication of the dance. Without the beat, its commercial value would certainly be more tenuous."

Archie Shepp, American Musician

Poetry, Music, Dance, Rap

9

"In a manner of speaking, the poem is its own knower, neither poet nor reader knowing anything that the poem says apart from the words of the poem."

"In a manner of speaking, the poem is its own knower, neither poet nor reader knowing anything that the poem says apart from the words of the poem."

Allen Tate, American Poet

9

"Poetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities; artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind."

"Poetry is the work of poets, not of peoples or communities; artistic creation can never be anything but the production of an individual mind."

Lascelles Abercrombie, British Poet

Poetry, Work, Creation, Mind

9

"But it is the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go beyond life, beyond time, into eternity."

"But it is the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go beyond life, beyond time, into eternity."

Alfred de Vigny, French Poet

Poetry, Life, Religion, Time

9

"The cliche is dead poetry."

"The cliche is dead poetry."

Gerald Brenan, English Writer

9

"Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for."

"Poetry is indispensable - if I only knew what for."

Jean Cocteau, French Director

9

"Poetry is the deification of reality."

"Poetry is the deification of reality."

Edith Sitwell, British Poet

Poetry, Reality

9

"The subject of Finnish poetry ought to have a special interest for the Japanese student, if only for the reason that Finnish poetry comes more closely in many respects to Japanese poetry than any other form of Western poetry."

"The subject of Finnish poetry ought to have a special interest for the Japanese student, if only for the reason that Finnish poetry comes more closely in many respects to Japanese poetry than any other form of Western poetry."

Lafcadio Hearn, Japanese Author

Poetry, Interest, Reason

9

"Rap is rhythm and poetry. Hip-hop is storytelling and poetry as well."

"Rap is rhythm and poetry. Hip-hop is storytelling and poetry as well."

Ajay Naidu, American Actor

9

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