Top 10 Quotes by Louis Simpson

The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it.

The aim of military training is not just to prepare men for battle, but to make them long for it.

Military, War, Men

The Open Road goes to the used-car lot.

Car, Used Car, Used

Louis Simpson (2003). “The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems, 1940-2001”, p.195, BOA Editions, Ltd.

The treasures of Cathay were never found. In this America, this wilderness Where the axe echoes with a lonely sound, The generations labor to possess And grave by grave we civilize the ground.

Louis Simpson

Lonely, Echoes, Discovery

Louis Simpson (2003). “The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems, 1940-2001”, p.124, BOA Editions, Ltd.

Being shelled is the main work of an infantry soldier, which no one talks about. Everyone has his own way of going about it. In general, it means lying face down and contracting your body into as small a space as possible.

Louis Simpson

Lying, War, Mean

Paranoia imposes its own vision on the external world; it differs from other kinds of visionary experience in that the paranoid wants others to share his view—even insists on it. Paranoia is very like poetic creativity. This accounts for my fascination with certain people in whom this state of mind was evident: ‘characters’ met by chance, whose words and gestures would haunt me for years until, finally, in a poem I was able to dispel them.

Louis Simpson

Creativity, Character, Views

In my grandmother's house there was always chicken soup And talk of the old country--mud and boards, Poverty, The snow falling down and necks of lovers.

Louis Simpson

Country, Fall, Grandmother

Louis Simpson (2003). “The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems, 1940-2001”, p.182, BOA Editions, Ltd.

For people may not know what they think about politics in the Balkans, or the vexed question of men and women, but everyone has a definite opinion about the flavour of shredded coconut.

Louis Simpson

Men, Thinking, People

Louis Simpson (2003). “The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems, 1940-2001”, p.293, BOA Editions, Ltd.