217 quotes
Left to itself the masculine imagination has very little appreciation for the here and now; it prefers to dwell on what is absent, on what has been or may be. If men are more punctual than women, it is because they know that, without the external discipline of clock time, they would never get anything done.
Foreword to Phyllis McGinley's Times Three (1960)
The mass and majesty of this world, all
That carries weight and always weighs the same
Lay in the hands of others; they were small
And could not hope for help and no help came:
What their foes like to do was done, their shame
Was all the worst could wish; they lost their pride
And died as men before their bodies died.
The Shield of Achilles (1955)
Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another; they might also ask themselves how much poetry of any period they can honestly say that they understand.
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)
In the late Middle Ages there were, no doubt, many persons in monasteries and convents who had no business there and should have been out in the world earning an honest living, but today it may very well be that there are many persons trying to earn a living in the world and driven by failure into mental homes whose true home would be the cloister.
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)
At first critics classified authors as Ancients, that is to say, Greek and Latin authors, and Moderns, that is to say, every post-Classical Author. Then they classified them by eras, the Augustans, the Victorians, etc., and now they classify them by decades, the writers of the '30's, '40's, etc. Very soon, it seems, they will be labeling authors, like automobiles, by the year.
The Dyer's Hand, and Other Essays (1962)
My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.
Attributed
Music is the best means we have of digesting time.
Misattributed
Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
Misattributed Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (1988)
A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep.
Misattributed
As a poet—not as a citizen—there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language from corruption. When it’s corrupted, people lose faith in what they hear, and this leads to violence.
Attributed
Minus times minus equals plus,
The reason for this we need not discuss.
Misattributed
No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.
Misattributed
We are all on earth to help others. What on earth the others are here for, I can't imagine.
Misattributed
Love each other or perish.
Misattributed
Art is born of humiliation.
Attributed
Now is the age of anxiety.
Misattributed
Water is the soul of the earth.
Misattributed