GIGA THE MOST EXTENSIVE
COLLECTION OF
QUOTATIONS
ON THE INTERNET
Home
Page
GIGA
Quotes
Biographical
Name Index
Chronological
Name Index
Topic
List
Reading
List
Site
Notes
Crossword
Solver
Anagram
Solver
Subanagram
Solver
LexiThink
Game
Anagram
Game
TOPICS:           A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z 
PEOPLE:     #    A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z 

POETS
 << Prev Page    Displaying page 3 of 7    Next Page >> 
[ Also see Authors Burns, Robert Fancy Holmes, Oliver Wendell Homer Imagination Milton, John Poetry Sandburg, Carl Shakespeare Songs Visions Wordsworth, William Writers ]

All men are poets at heart.
      - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Literary Ethics

His virtues formed the magic of his song.
      - Epitaph, Inscription of the Tomb of Cowper
         (l. 10)

'Tis a question whether adversity or prosperity makes the most poets.
      - George Farquhar

Who live on fancy, and can feed on air.
      - John Gay

"Give me a theme," the little poet cried,
  "And I will do my part,"
    "'Tis not a theme you need," the world replied;
      "You need a heart."
      - Richard Watson Gilder, Wanted, a Theme

Whoever would understand the poet
  Must go into the poet's country.
    [Ger., Wer den Dichter will verstehen
      Muss in Dichters Lande gehen.]
      - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
        Noten auf West-O--Divans

Modern poets mix too much water with their ink.
  [Ger., Neuere Poeten thun viel Wasser in die Tinte.]
      - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
        Spruche in Prosa (III),
        quoting Sterne "Koran", 2, 142

I fancy the character of a poet is in every country the same,--fond of enjoying the present, careless of the future; his conversation that of a man of sense, his actions those of a fool.
      - Oliver Goldsmith

Thou best-humour'd man with the worst-humour'd muse.
      - Oliver Goldsmith, Retaliation (postscript)

A poet is the translator of the silent language of nature to the world.
      - Rufus Wilmot Griswold

Lo! there he lies, our Patriarch Poet, dead!
  The solemn angel of eternal peace
    Has waved a wand of mystery o'er his head,
      Touched his strong heart, and bade his pulses cease.
      - Paul Hamilton Hayne, To Bryant, Dead

He plays their dreams on a mouth organ. He tells them their secrets on a banjo.
      - Ben Hecht

Poets are never young, in one sense. Their delicate ear hears the far-off whispers of eternity, which coarser souls must travel towards for scores of years before their dull sense is touched by them. A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.
      - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

We call those poets who are first to mark
  Through earth's dull mist the coming of the dawn,--
    Who see in twilight's gloom the first pale spark,
      While others only note that day is gone.
      - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,
        Memorial Verses--Shakespeare

In his own verse the poet still we find,
  In his own page his memory lives enshrined,
    As in their amber sweets the smothered bees,--
      As the fair cedar, fallen before the breeze,
        Lies self-embalmed amidst the mouldering trees.
      - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,
        Songs of Many Seasons--Bryant's Seventieth Birthday
         (sts. 17 and 18)

Where go the poet's lines?--
  Answer, ye evening tapers!
    Ye auburn locks, ye golden curls,
      Speak from your folded papers!
      - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Poet's Lot
         (st. 3)

Neither men, nor gods, nor booksellers' shelves permit ordinary poets to exist.
  [Lat., Mediocribus esse poetis
    Non homines, non di, non concessere columnae.]
      - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus),
        Ars Poetica (372)

If you rank me with the lyric poets, my exalted head shall strike the stars.
  [Lat., Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseris,
    Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.]
      - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Carmina
         (I, 1, 35)

The irritable tribe of poets.
  [Lat., Genus irritabile vatum.]
      - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus),
        Epistles (II, 2, 102)

Poets, the first instructors of mankind,
  Brought all things to the proper native use.
      - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus),
        Of the Art of Poetry (l. 449),
        (Wentworth Dillon's translation)

The scattered remnants of the poet.
  [Lat., Disjecti membra poetae.]
      - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Satires
         (I, 4, 62)

The man is either mad or his is making verses.
  [Lat., Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit.]
      - Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Satires
         (II, 7, 117)

To a poet nothing can be useless.
      - Samuel Johnson (a/k/a Dr. Johnson) ("The Great Cham of Literature")

Was ever poet so trusted before!
      - Samuel Johnson (a/k/a Dr. Johnson) ("The Great Cham of Literature"),
        Boswell's Life of Johnson

If men will impartially, and not asquint, look toward the offices and function of a poet, they will easily conclude to themselves the impossibility of any man's being a good poet without first being a good man.
      - Ben Jonson


Displaying page 3 of 7 for this topic:   << Prev  Next >>  1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7

The GIGA name and the GIGA logo are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
GIGA-USA and GIGA-USA.COM are servicemarks of the domain owner.
Copyright © 1999-2018 John C. Shepard. All Rights Reserved.
Last Revised: 2018 December 9




Support GIGA.  Buy something from Amazon.


Click > HERE < to report errors