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William Butler Yeats Quotes - Page 15

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Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns? I have been changed to a hound with one red ear; I have been in the Path of Stones and the Wood of Thorns.

Do you not hear me calling, white deer with no horns? I have been changed to a hound with one red ear; I have been in the Path of Stones and the Wood of Thorns.

William Butler Yeats
White, Calling, Ears
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.49, Wordsworth Editions

For men were born to pray and save: Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, It's with O'Leary in the grave.

William Butler Yeats
Men, Gone, Praying
"September, 1913" l. 7 (1914)

Homer is my example and his unchristened heart.

William Butler Yeats
Heart, Example
William Butler Yeats (2011). “Selected Poems And Four Plays”, p.143, Simon and Schuster

I had this thought a while ago, "My darling cannot understand What I have done, or what would do In this blind bitter land." And I grew weary of the sun

William Butler Yeats
Land, Done, Sun
William Butler Yeats (1931). “Later Poems”, p.68, Library of Alexandria

Lionel Johnson comes the first to mind, That loved his learning better than mankind, Though courteous to the worst; much falling he Brooded upon sanctity.

William Butler Yeats
Fall, Learning, Mind
William Butler Yeats (1931). “Later Poems”, p.98, Library of Alexandria

We are fastened to a dying animal.

William Butler Yeats
Animal, Dying

All think what other people think; All know the man their neighbor knows. Lord, what would they say Did their Catullus walk that way?

William Butler Yeats
Men, Thinking, Gossip
"The Scholars" l. 9 (1919)

The intellect of man is forced to choose Perfection of the life, or of the work And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

William Butler Yeats
Life, Dark, Men
Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems (1932) "Coole Park and Ballylee, 1932"

Now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Butler Yeats
Sleep, Twenties, Lasts
"The Second Coming" l. 18 (1921)

If there's no hatred in a mind Assault and battery of the wind Can never tear the linnet from the leaf

William Butler Yeats
Wind, Hatred, Mind
William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.93

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing for every tatter in its mortal dress.

William Butler Yeats
Men, Elderly, Hands
"Sailing to Byzantium" l. 9 (1928)

Him who trembles before the flame and the flood, And the winds that blow through the starry ways, Let the starry winds and the flame and the flood Cover over and hide, for he has no part With the lonely, majestical multitude.

William Butler Yeats
Lonely, Nature, Fear
William Butler Yeats (2008). “COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS”, p.58, Simon and Schuster

The Muse is mute when public men Applaud a modern throne.

William Butler Yeats
Men, Thrones, Politics
William Butler Yeats (1962). “Poems of William Butler Yeats”, p.237, Hayes Barton Press

Consume my heart away, sick with desire And fastened to a dying animal It knows not what it is, and gather me Into the artifice of eternity.

William Butler Yeats
Heart, Animal, Sick
"Sailing to Byzantium" l. 21 (1928)

The brawling of a sparrow in the eaves The brilliant moon and all the milky sky And all that famous harmony of leaves Had blotted out man's image and his cry.

William Butler Yeats
Moon, Men, Sky
1891 'The Sorrow of Love', stanza 1. Collected in The Rose (1893).

The falcon cannot hear the falconer

William Butler Yeats
Falling Apart, Anarchy, Things Fall Apart Important
"The Second Coming" l. 1 (1921)

Cuchulain stirred, Stared on the horses of the sea, and heard The cars of battle and his own name cried; And fought with the invulnerable tide.

William Butler Yeats
Horse, Sea, Names
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.31, Simon and Schuster

But bear in mind your lover's wage Is what your looking-glass can show, And that he will turn green with rage At all that is not pictured there.

William Butler Yeats
Beauty, Jealousy, Glasses
William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.82

His element is so fine Being sharpened by his death, To drink from the wine-breath While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.

William Butler Yeats
Wine, Elements, Drink
William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.118

My chair was nearest to the fire In every company That talked of love or politics, Ere Time transfigured me.

William Butler Yeats
Time, Fire, Chairs
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.42, Simon and Schuster

Your hooves have stamped at the black margin of the wood, Even where horrible green parrots call and swing. My works are all stamped down into the sultry mud.

William Butler Yeats
Swings, Black, Green
William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.113

O heart! O heart! if she'd but turn her head You'd know the folly of being comforted.

William Butler Yeats
Heart, Folly, Turns
William Butler Yeats (2008). “COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS”, p.202, Simon and Schuster

The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round, Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound, Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are agleam, Our arms are waving, our lips are apart.

William Butler Yeats
Eye, Hair, Wind
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.43, Wordsworth Editions

There is no deformity But saves us from a dream.

William Butler Yeats
Dream, Imperfection, Deformity
William Butler Yeats (2016). “Collected Poems”, p.82, William Butler Yeats

I sat on cushioned otter-skin: My word was law from Ith to Emain, And shook at Invar Amargin The hearts of the world-troubling seamen, And drove tumult and war away.

William Butler Yeats
War, Heart, Law
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.14, Simon and Schuster

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