Skip to content

Dan Simmons on Poetry

1948–2026 United States

← All quotes by Dan Simmons

4 quotes

Poets are the mad midwives to reality. They see not what is, nor what can be, but what must become.”

Hyperion (1989)

Words are the only bullets in truth’s bandolier. And poets are the snipers.

Hyperion (1989)

I learned that poets aren’t God, but if there is a God...or anything approaching a God...he’s a poet. And a failed one at that.

The Fall of Hyperion (1990)

Belief in one’s identity as a poet or writer prior to the acid test of publication is as naive and harmless as the youthful belief in one’s immortality...and the inevitable disillusionment is just as painful.

Hyperion (1989)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Dan Simmons (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.