“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. ”
—Robert Frost
Robert Frost: Poetry
poet
Kahlil Gibran: Utterers and listeners
He who listens to truth is not less than he who utters truth. -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931).
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Walter Scott: Willows and oaks
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character. -Walter Scott, novelist and poet (1771-1832).
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Saadi: Sorrow and joy
That sorrow which is the harbinger of joy is preferable to the joy which is followed by sorrow. -Saadi, poet (c. 1213-1291).
English: A very quiet picture, could be used to express sorrow. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Piet Hein: Naivety
Naive you are / if you believe / life favours those / who aren’t naive. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996).
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T.S. Eliot: Life,wisdom,knowledge
Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? -T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965).
English: T. S. Eliot, photographed one Sunday afternoon in 1923 by Lady Ottoline Morrell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Piet Hein: Luck and you
Nobody can be lucky all the time; / so when your luck deserts you in some fashion / don’t think you’ve been abandoned in your prime, / but rather that you’re saving up your ration. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996).
Nederlands: Minister Piet Hein Donner van Binnenlandse Zaken (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Piet Hein: Men—good to their brothers
Men, said the Devil, / are good to their brothers: / they don’t want to mend / their own ways, but each other’s. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996).
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Michelangelo Buonarroti: Mastery, not so wonderful
If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful after all. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564).
Español: Retrato de Michelangelo Buonarroti / Miguel Ángel Buonarroti, pintor y escultor italiano, 1475 – 1564. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Piet Hein: Co-existence
Co-existence / or no existence. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)
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Paul Auster: Only the good
Only the good doubt their own goodness, which is what makes them good in the first place. The bad know they are good, but the good know nothing. They spend their lives forgiving others, but they can’t forgive themselves. -Paul Auster, novelist and poet (b. 1947).
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Robert Southey: Words and sunbeams
It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -Robert Southey, poet (1774-1843).
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Secret history of enemies
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (1807-1882).
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Herman Melville: Assumptions
Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. —Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891).
Oil Painting of Herman Melville in 1846/7. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Don Marquis: Human, cousins
human wandering through the zoo / what do your cousins think of you. -Don Marquis, humorist and poet (1878-1937).
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Piet Hein: Late for the previous, early for the next
It ought to be plain / how little you gain / by getting excited / and vexed. / You’ll always be late / for the previous train, / and always in time / for the next. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)
Piet Hein (Kumbel) in front of the H.C. Andersen statue in Copenhagen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Samuel Butler: Self-portrait
Every man’s work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. -Samuel Butler, poet (1612-1680)
English: Samuel Butler (novelist) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Robert Frost: Poetry
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I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering. –Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)
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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr: Superstition
We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible. You cannot educate a man wholly out of the superstitious fears which were implanted in his imagination, no matter how utterly his reason may reject them. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894)
Daguerreotype of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., 1841 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Judging ourselves and others judging us
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (1807-1882).
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Robert Frost: Poetry
Cover of Robert Frost
I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering. –Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)
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William Shakespeare: To thine own self be true
This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man. —William Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (1564-1616).
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Jean Toomer: Thank everyone
Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily. -Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967).
Jean Toomer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Boring geniuses
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Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as a blazing meteor when it descends to earth, is only a stone. –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet
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Francis Picabia: Round heads
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Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction. –Francis Picabia, painter and poet (1879-1953)
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Hafez: Right and wrong
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Now is the time to understand / That all your ideas of right and wrong / Were just a child’s training wheels / To be laid aside / When you finally live / With veracity / And love. –Hafez, poet (1315-1390)
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Piet Hein: On The Past
The past, — well, it’s just like / our Great-Aunt Laura, / who cannot or will not perceive / that though she is welcome, / and though we adore her, / yet now it is time to leave. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996).
Nederlands: Minister Piet Hein Donner van Binnenlandse Zaken (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Gwendolyn Brooks: Grief, loneliness and revenge
“Each to his grief, each to
his loneliness and fidgety revenge.”– Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917), U.S. poet. Boy Breaking Glass (l. 13–14). . .
Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.Sara S. Miller’s 1994 Bronze Portrait Bust Of Gwendolyn Brooks (Washington, DC) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Diane Wakoski: Disguised words
Poetry is the art of saying what you mean but disguising it. –Diane Wakoski, poet (b. 1937).
Diane Wakoski (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Quite a Quote! 