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William Butler Yeats Quotes - Page 13

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I Sing what was lost and dread what was won, / I walk in a battle fought over again.

I Sing what was lost and dread what was won, / I walk in a battle fought over again.

William Butler Yeats
Winning, Battle, Lost
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.318, Simon and Schuster

Tis the eternal law, That first in beauty should be first in might.

William Butler Yeats
Beauty, Law, Might

Florence Farr once said to me, If we could say to ourselves, with sincerity, 'this passing moment is as good as any I shall ever know,' we could die upon the instant and be united with God.

William Butler Yeats
Passing Moments, Florence, Sincerity

For how can you compete Being honour bred, with one Who, were it proved he lies, Were neither shamed in his own Nor in his neighbour's eyes?

William Butler Yeats
Lying, Eye, Atheism
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.87, Wordsworth Editions

Many ingenious lovely things are gone / That seemed sheer miracle to the multitude.

William Butler Yeats
Miracle, Lovely, Gone
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

I can forgive even that wrong of wrongs, Those undreamt accidents that have made me Seeing that Fame has perished this long while, Being but a part of ancient ceremony Notorious, till all my priceless things Are but a post the passing dogs defile.

William Butler Yeats
Forgiveness, Dog, Long
William Butler Yeats (1931). “Later Poems”, p.96, Library of Alexandria

In life courtesy and self-possession, and in the arts style, are the sensible impressions of the free mind, for both arise out of a deliberate shaping of all things and from never being swept away, whatever the emotion into confusion or dullness.

William Butler Yeats
Life, Art, Self
William Butler Yeats, Richard J. Finneran, George Bornstein (2007). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume IV: Early Essays”, p.185, Simon and Schuster

Things thought too long can be no longer thought, For beauty dies of beauty, worth of worth, And ancient lineaments are blotted out.

William Butler Yeats
Long, Ancient, Dies
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.249, Wordsworth Editions

Women are hard and proud and stubborn-hearted, Their heads being turned with praise and flattery; And that is why their lovers are afraid To tell them a plain story.

William Butler Yeats
Women, Stories, Stubborn
William Butler Yeats (2010). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol II: The Plays”, p.270, Simon and Schuster

THAT crazed girl improvising her music. Her poetry, dancing upon the shore, Her soul in division from itself Climbing, falling She knew not where, Hiding amid the cargo of a steamship, Her knee-cap broken, that girl I declare A beautiful lofty thing, or a thing Heroically lost, heroically found. No matter what disaster occurred She stood in desperate music wound, Wound, wound, and she made in her triumph Where the bales and the baskets lay No common intelligible sound But sang, 'O sea-starved, hungry sea

William Butler Yeats
Beautiful, Girl, Fall
William Butler Yeats (1962). “Poems of William Butler Yeats”, p.5, Hayes Barton Press

Civilisation is hooped together, brought Under a rule, under the semblance of peace By manifold illusion.

William Butler Yeats
Civilization, Together, Uprooting
William Butler Yeats (2011). “The Yeats Reader, Revised Edition: A Portable Compendium of Poetry, Drama, and Prose”, p.215, Simon and Schuster

That is no country for old men. The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees - Those dying generations-at their song, The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. Caught in that sensual music all neglect Monuments of unaging intellect.

William Butler Yeats
Death, Summer, Country
"Sailing to Byzantium" l. 1 (1928)

I am of a healthy long lived race, and our minds improve with age.

William Butler Yeats
Birthday, Race, Long

We are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of Burke; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. We have created most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence.

William Butler Yeats
Country, People, Political
Speech in Seanad on government measure outlawing divorce, 11 June 1925

Many times man lives and dies between his two eternities: that of race and that of Soul... A brief parting from those dear is the worst man has to fear... Though grave diggers' toil is long... They but thrust their buried men back in the human mind again.

William Butler Yeats
Karma, Men, Race
William Butler Yeats (2011). “Selected Poems And Four Plays”, p.28, Simon and Schuster

I have grown to believe that there is no dangerous idea, which does not become less dangerous when written out in sincere and careful English.

William Butler Yeats
Believe, Ideas, Doe
William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.443

When Walt Whitman writes in seeming defiance of tradition, he needs tradition for his protection, for the butcher and the baker and the candlestick-maker grow merry over him when they meet his work by chance.

William Butler Yeats
Writing, Bakers, Needs
William Butler Yeats, Richard J. Finneran, George Bornstein (2007). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume IV: Early Essays”, p.8, Simon and Schuster

Somewhere beyond the curtain Of distorting days Lives that lonely thing That shone before these eyes Targeted, trod like Spring.

William Butler Yeats
Life, Lonely, Spring
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.257, Simon and Schuster

I believe when I am in the mood that all nature is full of people whom we cannot see, and that some of these are ugly or grotesque, and some wicked or foolish, but very many beautiful beyond any one we have ever seen, and that these are not far away... and the simple of all times and the wise men of ancient times have seen them and even spoken to them.

William Butler Yeats
Beautiful, Wise, Believe
"When You Are Old: Early Poems, Plays, and Fairy Tales".

One should not lose one's temper unless one is certain of getting more and more angry to the end.

William Butler Yeats
Anger, Getting High, Ends
William Butler Yeats (1973). “Memoirs”

It is most important that we should keep in this country a certain leisured class. I am of the opinion of the ancient Jewish book which says there is no wisdom without leisure.

William Butler Yeats
Country, Book, Class
Speech at Seanad Éireann (Irish Free Senate) on the Damage to Property (Compensation) Bill, March 28, 1923.

I have drunk ale from the Country of the Young / And weep because I know all things now.

William Butler Yeats
Country, Drunk, Ale
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.70, Simon and Schuster

It's certain there are trout somewhere - And maybe I shall take a trout - but I do not seem to care.

William Butler Yeats
Lakes, Sea, Fishing
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.91, Wordsworth Editions

O heart the winds have shaken, the unappeasable host Is comelier than candles at Mother Mary's feet.

William Butler Yeats
Mother, Heart, Wind
William Butler Yeats (2011). “Selected Poems And Four Plays”, p.21, Simon and Schuster

Be secret and exult, Because of all things known That is most difficult.

William Butler Yeats
Secret, Difficult, Known
"To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing" l. 14 (1914)

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