Mary Oliver quotes - page 4

What men build, in the name of security, is built of straw. (Mary Oliver)
Among the swans there is none called the least, or the greatest. View quote
Mary Oliver
Am I not among the early risers and the long-distance walkers? Have I not stood, amazed, as I consider the perfection of the morning star above the peaks of the houses, and the crowns of the trees blue in the first light? Do I not see how the trees tremble, as though sheets of water flowed over them though it is only wind, that common thing, free to everyone, and everything? View quote
Mary Oliver
Here is an amazement –– once I was twenty years old and in every motion of my body there was a delicious ease, and in every motion of the green earth there was a hint of paradise, and now I am sixty years old, and it is the same. View quote
Mary Oliver
I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us... View quote
Mary Oliver
And that is just the point... how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. "Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment? View quote
Mary Oliver
the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own. View quote
Mary Oliver
I have a little dog who likes to nap with me. He climbs on my body and puts his face in my neck. He is sweeter than soap. He is more wonderful than a diamond necklace, which can't even bark... View quote
Mary Oliver
Come with me into the woods where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible. View quote
Mary Oliver
Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble. A dog is a true and loving friend. A dog is also a hedonist. View quote
Mary Oliver
Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath? (Mary Oliver)
Also I wanted to be able to love And we all know how that one goes, don't we? Slowly. View quote
Mary Oliver
And to tell the truth I don't want to let go of the wrists of idleness, I don't want to sell my life for money, I don't even want to come in out of the rain. View quote
Mary Oliver
I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back. View quote
Mary Oliver
You can have the other words - chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity. I'll take grace. View quote
Mary Oliver
When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. --from WHEN DEATH COMES. View quote
Mary Oliver
Death waits for me, I know it, around one corner or another. This doesn't amuse me. Neither does it frighten me. View quote
Mary Oliver
We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I stayed where I was happy. View quote
Mary Oliver
I stood willingly and gladly in the characters of everything - other people, trees, clouds. View quote
Mary Oliver
Listen, whatever you see and love- that's where you are. View quote
Mary Oliver
Two or three times in my life I discovered love. Each time it seemed to solve everything. (Mary Oliver)
THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER As long as you're dancing, you can break the rules. Sometimes breaking the rules is just extending the rules. Sometimes there are no rules. View quote
Mary Oliver
We meet wonderful people, but lose them in our busyness. We're, as the saying goes, all over the place. Steadfastness, it seems, is more about dogs than about us. One of the reasons we love them so much. View quote
Mary Oliver
It must be a great disappointment to God if we are not dazzled at least ten times a day. View quote
Mary Oliver
Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry. Yes indeed. View quote
Mary Oliver