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Emily Dickinson Quotes

1830–1886 United States

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Virtually unknown in her lifetime, Dickinson has come to be regarded as one of the greatest American poets of the 19th century.

United States
19th-century poets
Authors
Poets

Also known as: Dickinson, Emily

Random Emily Dickinson quote

66 quotes

Surgeons must be very careful
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the culprit,—Life!

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
Indicative that suns go down;
The notice to the startled grass
That darkness is about to pass.

No approximate words in a poem.

I took my power in my hand
And went against the world;
'Twas not so much as David had,
But I was twice as bold.
I aimed my pebble, but myself
Was all the one that fell.
Was it Goliath was too large,
Or only I too small?

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one's name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

Faith — is the Pierless Bridge
Supporting what We see
Unto the Scene that We do not.

Faith — is the Pierless Bridge (1864)

The sweets of Pillage can be known
To no one but the Thief,
Compassion for Integrity
Is his divinest Grief.

Some Days retired from the rest
In soft distinction lie,
The Day that a companion came—
Or was obliged to die.

To Whom the Mornings stand for Nights,
What must the Midnights – be!

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.

A death-blow is a life-blow to some
Who, till they died, did not alive become;
Who, had they lived, had died, but when
They died, vitality begun.

God is sitting here, looking into my very soul to see if I think right thoughts. Yet I am not afraid, for I try to be right and good; and He knows every one of my struggles.

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul.

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie —
True Poems flee —

Much madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
'Tis the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you're straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.

Speech is one symptom of Affection
And Silence one—
The perfectest communication
Is heard of none—

One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –
One need not be a House –
The Brain has Corridors – surpassing
Material Place –

We outgrow love, like other things
And put it in the Drawer –
Till it an Antique fashion shows –
Like Costumes Grandsires wore.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – Too?

Immortal is an ample word
When what we need is by,
But when it leaves us for a time,
'Tis a necessity.
Of heaven above the firmest proof
We fundamental know,
Except for its marauding hand,
It had been heaven below.

Attribution

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