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Marge Piercy Quotes

born 1936 United States

Marge Piercy (born March 31, 1936) is a Jewish American poet, novelist, and social activist.

United States
20th-century poets
Activists
Authors
Feminists

Random Marge Piercy quote

52 quotes

Most of life was bizarre when she stopped to examine it. (twenty-eight: HOW CAN WE TELL THE DANCER FROM THE DANCE?)

He, She and It (1991)

Every artist creates with open eyes what she sees in her dream. (p67)

He, She and It (1991)

Poetry changes with every generation, but it does not improve or progress. It just changes its styles, trappings and some of its obsessions, but we can still enjoy Sappho and Homer; they are today's news as much as when they were written or recited.

My Life, My Body (2015)

It is not sex that gives the pleasure, but the lover. (p402)

Gone to Soldiers (1987)

When you remove religion from the golem, you get Superman.

Holy is the hand that works for peace and for justice,
holy is the mouth that speaks for goodness,
holy is the foot that walks toward mercy.

The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme (1999)

I love silence but I fear emptiness. (p11)

Sleeping with Cats (2001)

The mind wraps itself around a poem.

Life of Prose and Poetry — An Inspiring Combination (1999)

"...you have a reciprocal nature. You understand if you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening." (p343)

Gone to Soldiers (1987)

She felt as if she were seventeen again, ignorant, fearful, a creature all gusty emotions and pain. (eight: HOW SHALL I ADDRESS YOU?)

He, She and It (1991)

He fought her with full energy and intelligence, as she had wanted to be loved. (one: IN THE CORPORATE FORTRESS)

He, She and It (1991)

I've been amazed at the number of unions that tell me how helpful "To be of use" is to them in their organizing work.

Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft by Bill Moyers (1999)

Poems told me there were other people who felt the way I felt. That was validation for the person I was. Poems can mean survival.

Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft by Bill Moyers (1999)

We have been living in times in which human cruelty is all around us. Yet the world is very beautiful.

Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft by Bill Moyers (1999)

there is no justice we don't make daily
like bread and love.

The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme (1999)

When the knocking came, Maud was taking a sponge bath. (first line of "The Cost of Lunch, Etc.")

The Cost of Lunch, Etc.: Short Stories (2014)

"I still have insomnia, but now I tell myself stories instead of counting men." (Malkah nine: REVISING THE FAMILY ALBUM)

He, She and It (1991)

As if a wind that had been blowing hard against her had suddenly fallen silent, her ears roared with silence. ("What the Arbor Said")

The Cost of Lunch, Etc.: Short Stories (2014)

I want my poems to give voice to something in the experience of a life. To find ourselves spoken for in art gives dignity to our pain, our anger, our losses.

Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft by Bill Moyers (1999)

"Before you, the strongest feeling I knew was fear." (Yod, twenty-two: THE PRESENT)

He, She and It (1991)

Attribution

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