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A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become.

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It is a sad fact about our culture that a poet can earn much more money writing or talking about his art than he can by practising it.

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You shall love your crooked neighbour, with your crooked heart.

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Language is the mother, not the handmaiden, of thought; words will tell you things you never thought or felt before.

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A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.

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And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom.

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Poetry makes nothing happen.

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Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

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In the prison of his daysTeach the free man how to praise

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I will love you forever" swears the poet. I find this easy to swear too. "I will love you at 4:15 pm next Tuesday" - Is that still as easy?

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The element of craftsmanship in poetry is obscured by the fact that all men are taught to speak and most to read and write, while very few men are tau...more

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Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.

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Say this city has ten million souls,Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place f...more

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In most poetic expressions of patriotism, it is impossible to distinguish what is one of the greatest human virtues from the worst human vice, collect...more

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We would rather be ruined than changedWe would rather die in our dreadThan climb the cross of the momentAnd let our illusions die.