William Butler Yeats

The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, and if it take read more

The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, and if it take the second must refuse a heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

Out of our quarrels with others we make rhetoric. Out of our quarrels with ourselves we make poetry.

Out of our quarrels with others we make rhetoric. Out of our quarrels with ourselves we make poetry.

I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least
interest to a serious and read more

I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least
interest to a serious and studious mood--sex and the dead.

We . . . are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of
Burke; we are read more

We . . . are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of
Burke; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the
people of Parnell. We have created most of the modern literature
of this country. We have created the best of its political
intelligence.

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and read more

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity