Skip to content

The summer demands and takes away too much.
But night, the reserved, the reticent, gives more than it takes.

— John Ashbery

Another quote →

Topics

Nature

More quotes by John Ashbery

There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.

Did I say that? One says so many things, and the problem is they all get written down.

These two guys in the front yard—
Are they here to help?

April Galleons (1987)

When I originally started writing, I expected that probably very few people would read my poetry because in those days people didn’t read poetry much anyway.

The Paris Review (1983)

All John Ashbery quotes →

You may also like

Utu, shepherd of the land, father of the black-headed, when you go to sleep, the people go to sleep with you; youth Utu, when you rise, the people rise with you.

Lugalbanda

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)

Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.

Jesus

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Ashbery (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.