Vita Sackville-West quotes - page 2

Among the many problems which beset the novelist, not the least weighty is the choice of the moment at which to begin his novel. (Vita Sackville-West)
The writer catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
If I had only loved your flesh And careless damned your soul to Hell, I might have laughed and loved afresh, And loved as lightly and as well, And little more to tell. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
She walks among the loveliness she made, Between the apple-blossom and the water- She walks among the patterned pied brocade, Each flower her son, and every tree her daughter. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
You took me weak and unprepared. I had not thought that you who shared My days, my nights, my heart, my life, Would slash me with a naked knife And gently tell me not to bleed But to accept your crazy creed. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
You're safe; that's gone, that wild caprice, But tell me once before I cease, Which does your Church esteem the kinder role, To kill the body or destroy the soul? View quote
Vita Sackville-West
The country habit has me by the heart, For he's bewitched for ever who has seen, Not with his eyes but with his vision, Spring Flow down the woods and stipple leaves with sun, As each man knows the life that fits him best, The shape it makes in his soul, the tune, the tone. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
I have some weeks in which to steel My heart and teach myself to feel Only a sober tenderness Where once was passion's loveliness. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
Why should a poet pray thus? poets scorn The boundaried love of country, being free Of winds, and alien lands, and distances, Vagabonds of the compass, wayfarers, Pilgrims of thought, the tongues of Pentecost Their privilege. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don't love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defences. And I don't really resent it. (Vita Sackville-West)
The greater cats with golden eyes Stare out between the bars. Deserts are there, and the different skies, And night with different stars. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
Of course I have no right whatsoever to write down the truth about my life involving as it naturally does the lives of so many other people, but I do so urged by a necessity of truth-telling, because there is no living soul who knows the complete truth. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
It is incredible how essential to me you have become. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
I saw within the wheelwright's shed The big round cartwheels, blue and red. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
There was nothing, nothing there, Nothing there to see. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
Here the old Bacchic piety endures, Here the sweet legends of the world remain. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
But this beyond their wit know I: Man loves a little, and for long shall die. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
It was a real event in my life and my heart to be with you the other day. We do matter to each other, don't we? however much our ways may have diverged. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
Days I enjoy are days when nothing happens, When I have no engagements written on my block, When no one comes to disturb my inward peace. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
She walks among the loveliness she made, Between the apple-blossom and the water. (Vita Sackville-West)
I came from nowhere, and shall be Strong, steadfast, swift, eternally. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
I shared with ships good joys and fortunes wide That might befall their beauty and their pride. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before. View quote
Vita Sackville-West
Days I enjoy are days when nothing happens, When I have no engagements written on my block, When no one comes to disturb my inward peace, When no one comes to take me away from myself And turn me into a patchwork, a jig-saw puzzle, A broken mirror that once gave a whole reflection, Being so contrived that it takes too long a time To get myself back to myself when they have gone. View quote
Vita Sackville-West