Stevie Smith quotes

This Englishwoman is so refined She has no bosom and no behind. (Stevie Smith)
Why does my Muse only speak when she is unhappy? She does not, I only listen when I am unhappy. View quote
Stevie Smith
The religion of Christianity Is mixed of sweetness and cruelty Reject this Sweetness, for she wears A smoky dress out of hell fires. View quote
Stevie Smith
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always (Still the dead one lay moaning) I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning. View quote
Stevie Smith
So I fancy my Muse says, when I wish to die, Oh no, Oh no, we are not yet friends enough, And Virtue also says: We are not yet friends enough. View quote
Stevie Smith
I made Man with too many faults. Yet I love him. And if he wishes, I have a home above for him. View quote
Stevie Smith
Who is this that comes in grandeur, coming from the blazing East? This is he we had not thought of, this is he the airy Christ. View quote
Stevie Smith
The flower and fruit of love are mine The ant, the fieldmouse and the mole. View quote
Stevie Smith
Into the dark night Resignedly I go, I am not so afraid of the dark night As the friends I do not know, I do not fear the night above As I fear the friends below. View quote
Stevie Smith
Oh Lion in a peculiar guise, Sharp Roman road to Paradise, Come eat me up, I'll pay thy toll With all my flesh, and keep my soul. View quote
Stevie Smith
All poetry has to do is to make a strong communication. All the poet has to do is listen. The poet is not an important fellow. There will also be another poet. (Stevie Smith)
I may be smelly and I may be old, Rough in my pebbles, reedy in my pools, But where my fish float by I bless their swimming, And I like the people to bathe in me especially women. View quote
Stevie Smith
Unpopular, lonely and loving, Elinor need not trouble, For if she were not so loving, She would not be so miserable. View quote
Stevie Smith
No man has seen her, this pitiful ghost, And no woman either, but heard her at most, Sighing and tapping and sighing again, You have weaned me too soon, you must nurse me again. View quote
Stevie Smith
I wish I was more cheerful, it is more pleasant, Also it is a duty, we should smile as well as submitting To the purpose of One Above who is experimenting With various mixtures of human character which goes best, All is interesting for him it is exciting, but not for us. There I go again. Smile, smile, and get some work to do Then you will be practically unconscious without positively having to go. View quote
Stevie Smith
To choose a god of love, as he did and does, Is a little move then? Yes, it is. A larger one will be when men Love love and hate hate but do not deify them? It will be a larger one. View quote
Stevie Smith
Was he married, did he try To support as he grew less fond of them Wife and family? View quote
Stevie Smith
He did not love in the human way. View quote
Stevie Smith
The boat that took my love away He sent again to me To tell me that he would not sleep Alone beneath the sea. View quote
Stevie Smith
I don't think Auden liked my poetry very much, he's very Anglican. View quote
Stevie Smith
All the same, there is a difficulty. I should like him to be happy in heaven here, But he cannot come by wishing. Only by being already at home here. (Stevie Smith)
Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning. I was much further out than you thought, and not waving but drowning. I was much too far out all my life, And not waving but drowning. View quote
Stevie Smith
I'm alive today, therefore I'm just as much a part of our time as everybody else. The times will just have to enlarge themselves to make room for me, won't they, and for everybody else. View quote
Stevie Smith