Quotes by Poet | Beyond Motive 7/304

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Quotes by Poet

"You see, I was told stories, we were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren't allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones."

"You see, I was told stories, we were all told stories as kids in Nigeria. We had to tell stories that would keep one another interested, and you weren't allowed to tell stories that everybody else knew. You had to dream up new ones."

Ben Okri, Nigerian Poet

38

"Storms make the oak grow deeper roots."

"Storms make the oak grow deeper roots."

George Herbert, British Poet

Growth, Oak, Storms

38

"If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered."

"If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered."

Edgar Allan Poe, American Poet

38

"It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him."

"It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German Poet

Fear, Fate, Man

38

"Man is a play station whereas a woman will always remain at an emotion station."

"Man is a play station whereas a woman will always remain at an emotion station."

Santosh Kalwar, Nepalese Poet

Gender, Man, Play, Women, Emotion

38

"The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

"The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

William Blake, English Poet

Man, Mind, Opinions, Water

38

"Money gives me pleasure all the time."

"Money gives me pleasure all the time."

Hilaire Belloc, English Poet

Money, Time, Pleasure

38

"Who to himself is law, no law doth need, offends no law, and is a king indeed."

"Who to himself is law, no law doth need, offends no law, and is a king indeed."

George Chapman, English Poet

37

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

"One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters."

George Herbert, British Poet

37

"Green how I want you green. Green wind. Green branches."

"Green how I want you green. Green wind. Green branches."

Federico Garcia Lorca, Spanish Poet

37

"The things which I have seen I now can see no more."

"The things which I have seen I now can see no more."

William Wordsworth, English Poet

37

"He knows not his own strength that has not met adversity."

"He knows not his own strength that has not met adversity."

Ben Jonson, English Poet

Strength, Adversity

37

"She was a poem and a painting too. Everything she said sounded like a song, every silence was the music too."

"She was a poem and a painting too. Everything she said sounded like a song, every silence was the music too."

Akshay Vasu, Indian Poet

Art, Beauty, Love, Music

37

"Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge."

"Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge."

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Philosopher

Knowledge, Beginning, Poet, Khalil Gibran

37

"Strange things blow in through my window on the wings of the night wind and I don't worry about my destiny."

"Strange things blow in through my window on the wings of the night wind and I don't worry about my destiny."

Carl Sandburg, American Poet

Destiny, Night, Wind, Worry

37

"Philosophy is properly home-sickness; the wish to be everywhere at home."

"Philosophy is properly home-sickness; the wish to be everywhere at home."

Novalis, German Poet

Home, Philosophy

37

"Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune."

"Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune."

Walt Whitman, American Poet

37

"If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees."

"If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees."

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Philosopher

Blame, Secrets, Trees, Wind

37

"Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all."

"Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all."

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Philosopher

Life, Religion, Temple, Poet

36

"For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment."

"For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment."

Matthew Arnold, English Poet

Power, Creation, Literature, Man

36

"I am a hidden meaning made to defy. The grasp of words, and walk away With free will and destiny. As living, revolutionary clay."

"I am a hidden meaning made to defy. The grasp of words, and walk away With free will and destiny. As living, revolutionary clay."

Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani Poet

Destiny, Freewill, Living, Meaning

36

"Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom."

"Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English Poet

Wisdom, Commonsense, World

36

"On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven a perfect round."

"On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven a perfect round."

Robert Browning, English Poet

36

"My strength has the strength of ten because my heart is pure."

"My strength has the strength of ten because my heart is pure."

Alfred Lord Tennyson, English Poet

Heart, Strength

36

"A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it."

"A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it."

Anne Spencer, American Poet

Life, HusbPeople, Pleasure

36

"Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree which does not force its sap and stands confidence in the storms of spring without fear that after them may come no summer."

"Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree which does not force its sap and stands confidence in the storms of spring without fear that after them may come no summer."

Rainer Maria Rilke, German Poet

Development, Growth, Nature, Patience, Faith

36

"How surely gravity's law,strong as an ocean current,takes hold of the smallest thingand pulls it toward the heart of the world.Each thing---each stone, blossom, child---is held in place.Only we, in our arrogance,push out beyond what we each belong tofor some empty freedom.If we surrenderedto earth's intelligencewe could rise up rooted, like trees.Instead we entangle ourselvesin knots of our own makingand struggle, lonely and confused.So like children, we begin againto learn from the things,because they are in God's heart;they have never left him.This is what the things can teach us:to fall,patiently to trust our heaviness.Even a bird has to do thatbefore he can fly."

"How surely gravity's law,strong as an ocean current,takes hold of the smallest thingand pulls it toward the heart of the world.Each thing---each stone, blossom, child---is held in place.Only we, in our arrogance,push out beyond what we each belong tofor some empty freedom.If we surrenderedto earth's intelligencewe could rise up rooted, like trees.Instead we entangle ourselvesin knots of our own makingand struggle, lonely and confused.So like children, we begin againto learn from the things,because they are in God's heart;they have never left him.This is what the things can teach us:to fall,patiently to trust our heaviness.Even a bird has to do thatbefore he can fly."

Rainer Maria Rilke, German Poet

Nature, Gravity, Earth, Life, Trust

36

"Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You've got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you've got to burn away all the peripherals."

"Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You've got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you've got to burn away all the peripherals."

Sylvia Plath, American Poet

Poetry, Discipline, Creativity, Expression

36

"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

35

"Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools."

"Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools."

George Chapman, English Poet

Man, Men, Fools, Old

35

"Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death."

"Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death."

Hilaire Belloc, English Poet

Death, Victory, Statistics

35

"Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth."

"Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth."

Philip James Bailey, English Poet

Truth, Prayer, Spirit

35

"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say."

"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say."

Bryant McGill, American Poet

Respect, Listening

35

"We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life."

"We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life."

Edwin Markham, American Poet

Life, Memory, Now

35

"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."

"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."

Audre Lorde, American Poet

35

"If I told you about a land of love, friend, would you follow me and come?"

"If I told you about a land of love, friend, would you follow me and come?"

Yunus Emre, Turkish Poet

Friendship, Love, Friend, Land

35

"All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions."

"All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions."

William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet

Attitude, Extreme, Opinions

35

"We loved with a love that was more than love."

"We loved with a love that was more than love."

Edgar Allan Poe, American Poet

35

"Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes."

"Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes."

Walt Whitman, American Poet

34

"When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies."

"When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies."

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Philosopher

Enemy, Enemies, Poet, Khalil Gibran

34

"I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair."

"I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair."

Alfred Lord Tennyson, English Poet

Action, Despair

34

"I want people to bow as they see me and say he is gifted with poetry, he has seen the presence of the creator."

"I want people to bow as they see me and say he is gifted with poetry, he has seen the presence of the creator."

Allen Ginsberg, American Poet

Poetry, People, Want

34

"And he repents in thorns that sleeps in beds of roses."

"And he repents in thorns that sleeps in beds of roses."

Francis Quarles, English Poet

Life, Beds, Roses

34

"I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery."

"I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery."

Aeschylus, Greek Poet

Hatred, Disease, Hate, Treachery

34

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!"

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!"

Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Poet

Autumn, Harmony, Sky, Summer

34

"Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms."

"Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms."

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Philosopher

Family, Mother, Knowledge, Atoms, Self

34

"You can't argue with insanity. You can stare at it, gaping and incredulous, but arguing with it is futile."

"You can't argue with insanity. You can stare at it, gaping and incredulous, but arguing with it is futile."

Richelle E. Goodrich, American Poet

Insanity, Truth, Regret, Wisdom, Inspirational

34

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."

Carl Sandburg, American Poet

Time, Life, People, Will

34

"All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him."

"All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him."

W. H. Auden, English Poet

Art, Work, Idea, Act

34

"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."

"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."

Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Poet

Influence, Legislators, Poets, World

34

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