A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his read more

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call read more

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the Creator, there is no poverty.

Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.

Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.

For there is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a
biography, the life of a read more

For there is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a
biography, the life of a man; also, it may be said, there is no
life of a man, faithfully recorded, but is a heroic poem of its
sort, rhymed or unrhymed.

Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out... Perfect understanding read more

Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out... Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning read more

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times.

It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things.

It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things.

However, if a poem can be reduced to a prose sentence, there can't be much to it.

However, if a poem can be reduced to a prose sentence, there can't be much to it.