William Butler Yeats quotes - page 10

You know what the Englishman's idea of compromise is? He says, Some people say there is a God. Some people say there is no God. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two statements. (William Butler Yeats)
Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing, But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enameling To keep a drowsy Emperor awake Or set upon a golden bough to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come. View quote
William Butler Yeats
That is no country for old men. The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees Those dying generationsat their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unaging intellect. View quote
William Butler Yeats
A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, our stitching and unstinting has been naught. View quote
William Butler Yeats
One should not lose one's temper unless one is certain of getting more and more angry to the end. View quote
William Butler Yeats
I bring you with reverent hands The books of my numberless dreams. View quote
William Butler Yeats
I think it better that in times like these a poet's mouth be silent, for in truth we have no gift to set a statesman right. View quote
William Butler Yeats
Many ingenious lovely things are gone That seemed sheer miracle to the multitude. View quote
William Butler Yeats
Everything that man esteems Endures a moment or a day. Love's pleasure drives his love away, The painter's brush consumes his dreams. View quote
William Butler Yeats
I made my song a coat Covered with embroideries Out of old mythologies From heel to throat But the fools caught it, Wore it in the world's eyes As though they'd wrought it. Song, let them take it, For there's more enterprise In walking naked. View quote
William Butler Yeats
Heaven blazing into the head Tragedy wrought to its uttermost. Though Hamlet rambles and Lear rages And all the drop-scenes drop at once Upon a hundred thousand stages It cannot grow by an inch or an ounce. (William Butler Yeats)
O heart, be at peace, because Nor knave nor dolt can break What's not for their applause. View quote
William Butler Yeats
I think all happiness depends on the energy to assume the mask of some other life, on a re-birth as something not one's self. View quote
William Butler Yeats
On limestone quarried near the spot By his command these words are cut Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by. View quote
William Butler Yeats
An intellectual hatred is the worst, So let her think opinions are accursed. Have I not seen the loveliest woman born Out of the mouth of Plenty's horn, Because of her opinionated mind Barter that horn and every good By quiet natures understood For an old bellows full of angry wind. View quote
William Butler Yeats
He that sings a lasting song Thinks in a marrowbone. View quote
William Butler Yeats
But where's the wild dog that has praised his fleas. View quote
William Butler Yeats
Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways. View quote
William Butler Yeats
I heard the old, old men say, 'Everything alters, And one by one we drop away. View quote
William Butler Yeats
Talent perceives differences; genius, unity. View quote
William Butler Yeats
If suffering brings wisdom, I would wish to be less wise. (William Butler Yeats)
Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love. View quote
William Butler Yeats
With lightning, you went from me, and I could find Nothing to make a song about. View quote
William Butler Yeats
The Land of Faery, Where nobody gets old and godly and grave. View quote
William Butler Yeats
Crying amid the glittering sea, Naming it with the ecstatic breath, Because it had such dignity, By the sweet name of Death. View quote
William Butler Yeats