Philip Levine Quotes about Writing

Corruption is subtle, just like the Bible said. Many young poets have come to me and asked, How am I gonna make it? They feel, and often with considerable justice, that they are being overlooked while others with less

Corruption is subtle, just like the Bible said. Many young poets have come to me and asked, How am I gonna make it? They feel, and often with considerable justice, that they are being overlooked while others with less talent are out there making careers for themselves. I always give the same advice. I say, Do it the hard way, and you’ll always feel good about yourself. You write because you have to, and you get this unbelievable satisfaction from doing it well. Try to live on that as long as you’re able.

Philip Levine

Writing, Careers, Long

I believed even then that if I could transform my experience into poetry I would give it the value and dignity it did not begin to possess on its own. I thought too that if I could write about it I could come to understand it; I believed that if I could understand my life—or at least the part my work played in it—I could embrace it with some degree of joy, an element conspicuously missing from my life.

Philip Levine

Writing, Giving, Joy

"Philip Levine, former US poet laureate and Pulitzer winner, dies at 87". www.theguardian.com. February 15, 2015.

I write what's given me to write.

Philip Levine

Writing, Given

Philip Levine (2002). “So ask: essays, conversations, and interviews”, Univ of Michigan Pr

Now I think poetry will save nothing from oblivion, but I keep writing about the ordinary because for me it's the home of the extraordinary, the only home.

Philip Levine

Home, Writing, Thinking

Philip Levine (2002). “So ask: essays, conversations, and interviews”, Univ of Michigan Pr