“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

-Ruth Bader Ginsberg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1933-2020) 

 

“If you have a story to tell, the most important thing is the story, not the form you use to shape it."

-Patricia Smith, poet

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“. . . the story or poem brings us closer to the actual texture and intricacy of experience."

-John Updike, Pulitzer Prize winning author, and noted poet

 

"An effective story must have the unity and lyricism of a poem while giving the comforting facticity of a novel."

-Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker, April 27, 2020

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"The novel, that secondary form, can teach us how to act; the poem, and music, how to feel; and the feeling is vastly more important."

-Theodore Roethke, 1963

 

"The weak poet is magnetized toward some popular mystique or even religion.  The strong poet is always the heretic and the saint."

-Karl Shapiro, 1960

 

"Losing your way on a journey is unfortunate.  But, losing your reason for the journey is a fate more cruel."

-H. G. Wells

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". . . it is better to feel helpless than hopeless."

Mildred Jeanette (Foote) Platt (1920-1991)

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“If you want to concentrate on some problem, and especially some piece of writing or paper-work, you should acquire a cat."

-Muriel Spark, writer, poet

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“Success isn't about the end result; it's about what you learn along the way."

-Vera Wang

 

"In the unpredictable and fearful future that awaits civilization, the poet must be prepared to be alienated and indestructible.  He must dedicate himself to poetry, although no one else seems likely to read what he writes; and he must be indestructible as a poet until he is destroyed as a human being."

-Delmore Schwartz,  1951

 

"The poet-priest had two functions: lawgiver and comforter.  He had to know what laws to give, what comfort to give, what comfort to withhold as false.  The poet has far less power now, but the job has not changed.  He must affirm, comfort as he can, and make it stick."

-John Gardner, On Moral Fiction (1978) pp.174-175. 

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"A man who paints on canvas, writes poetry, or carves—no matter how badly—has a deeper appreciation of the technical problems of the master painters, poets, and sculptors than has the armchair critic."          

-Sherman Kent, Writing History (1941) pp. 3-4.

 

“Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better."

-Maya Angelou, poet, writer, and educator

 

“Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever."

-Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan poet 

 

“You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind."

-Irish proverb  

  

“Sometimes it's harder to do less than it is to do more."

-Inez Marie (Woodrum) Edwards, Arizona poet and poetry editor (1918-2010) 

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“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

-E.E. Cummings, American poet

 

“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."

-Matsuo Basho, Japanese poet

 

"I'll walk where my own nature would be leading: It vexes me to choose another guide."

-Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet

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"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees."

-Karle Wilson Baker, American author and poet (1878-1960)

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"Affection is the most important thing. And the quality of affection -- with your friends, your lovers, your family. But particularly for your own generation."

-Allen Ginsberg, American poet

 

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

-George Bernard Shaw

 

"I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets."

-D.H. Lawrence

 

“I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean."

-G.K. Chesterton

 

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."  "Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it."

-Emily Dickinson, American poet

 

“A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."

-Jean de la Fontaine, French writer and poet

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"Many people believe that reading poetry is good for the soul.  Personally, I can’t recommend poetry.  I don’t have time to read anything that's deliberately hard to figure out.   If I wanted to read something that didn’t make sense, I’d just read Maria Shriver’s book."          

-Al Franken, Oh, the Things I Know! (2000) p.104.

 

"No one is more confident than a bad poet."        

-Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis), Roman poet, lived 38 or 40 A.D. - 103 or 104 A.D.

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"It is always a writer's duty to make the world better."        

-Samuel Johnson

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"How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives."        

-Judy Blum, writer

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"Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere."        

-Albert Einstein

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"Everything you can imagine is real."        

-Pablo Picasso

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"Without poetry, we lose our way."        

-Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate 

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“Not all those who wander are lost."

-J.R.R. Tolkien, writer, philologist, professor, and poet

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