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William Butler Yeats Quotes - Page 6

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There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings.

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings.

William Butler Yeats
Wings, Purple, Midnight
The Countess Kathleen (1892) "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"

Beloved, gaze in thine own heart, The holy tree is growing there; From joy the holy branches start, And all the trembling flowers they bear. The changing colours of its fruit Have dowered the stars with metry light; The surety of its hidden root Has planted quiet in the night; The shaking of its leafy head Has given the waves their melody, And made my lips and music wed, Murmuring a wizard song for thee.

William Butler Yeats
Song, Stars, Flower
William Butler Yeats (1962). “Poems of William Butler Yeats”, p.431, Hayes Barton Press

Everything that man esteems Endures a moment or a day.

William Butler Yeats
Men, Moments, Endure
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.181, Wordsworth Editions

In the great cities we see so little of the world, we drift into our minority. In the little towns and villages there are no minorities; people are not numerous enough. You must see the world there, perforce. Every man is himself a class.

William Butler Yeats
Men, Class, Cities
William Butler Yeats (2007). “The Celtic Twilight”, p.14, Library of Alexandria

Everything we look upon is blest.

William Butler Yeats
Looks, Look Up
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.200, Wordsworth Editions

I would that we were, my beloved, white birds on the foam of the sea! We tire of the flame of the meteor, before it can fadeand flee; And the flame of the blue star of twilight, hung low on the rim of the sky, Has awaked in our hearts, my beloved, a sadness that may not die.

William Butler Yeats
Stars, Twilight, Heart
William Butler Yeats (2013). “Early Poems”, p.30, Courier Corporation

I broke my heart in two So hard I struck. What matter? for I know That out of rock, Out of a desolate source, Love leaps upon its course.

William Butler Yeats
Heart, Two, What Matters
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.267, Simon and Schuster

The poor have very few hours in which to enjoy themselves; they must take their pleasure raw; they haven't the time to cook it.

William Butler Yeats
Hours, Pleasure, Poor
William Butler Yeats (2010). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol II: The Plays”, p.638, Simon and Schuster

All the great masters have understood that there cannot be great art without the little limited life of the fable, which is always better the simpler it is, and the rich, far-wandering, many-imaged life of the half-seen world beyond it

William Butler Yeats
Art, Half, World
William Butler Yeats, Richard J. Finneran, George Bornstein (2007). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume IV: Early Essays”, p.160, Simon and Schuster

The pain others give passes away in their later kindness, but that of our own blunders, especially when they hurt our vanity, never passes away

William Butler Yeats
Hurt, Pain, Kindness
William Butler Yeats (2010). “Autobiographies: The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats”, p.371, Simon and Schuster

THOUGH you are in your shining days, Voices among the crowd And new friends busy with your praise, Be not unkind or proud, But think about old friends the most: Time's bitter flood will rise, Your beauty perish and be lost For all eyes but these eyes.

William Butler Yeats
Eye, Thinking, Voice
William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.68, Simon and Schuster

Does the imagination dwell the most Upon a woman won or a woman lost?

William Butler Yeats
Imagination, Doe, Losing
'The Tower' pt. 2

It is love that I am seeking for, But of a beautiful, unheard-of kind That is not in the world.

William Butler Yeats
Love, Beautiful, World
William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.354, Wordsworth Editions

An intellectual hatred is the worst.

William Butler Yeats
Hatred, Intellectual, Social Justice
"A Prayer for my Daughter" l. 57 (1919)

When a man grows old his joy Grows more deep day after day, His empty heart is full at length But he has need of all that strength Because of the increasing Night That opens her mystery and fright.

William Butler Yeats
Fear, Heart, Night
William Butler Yeats (2011). “Selected Poems And Four Plays”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

The mystical life is at the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.

William Butler Yeats
Inspirational, Life, Art
William Butler Yeats (1990). “W. B. Yeats: A Vision and Related Writings”, Random House (UK)

Though leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun Now I may wither into the truth.

William Butler Yeats
Lying, Flower, Roots
"The Coming of Wisdom with Time" l. 1 (1910)

What is literature but the expression of moods by the vehicle of symbol and incident?

William Butler Yeats
Expression, Literature, Mood
William Butler Yeats (2007). “The Celtic Twilight”, p.6, Library of Alexandria

Our own acts are isolated and one act does not buy absolution for another.

William Butler Yeats
Doe, Isolated, Absolution
William Butler Yeats (2010). “Autobiographies: The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats”, p.371, Simon and Schuster

Time drops in decay Like a candle burnt out. And the mountains and woods Have their day, have their day; But, kindly old rout Of the fire-born moods, You pass not away.

William Butler Yeats
Fire, Mountain, Decay
William Butler Yeats (2007). “The Celtic Twilight”, p.2, Library of Alexandria

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick

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

I dreamed that I stood in a valley, and amid sighs, For happy lovers passed two by two where I stood; And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes.

William Butler Yeats
Dream, Lost Love, Fall
William Butler Yeats (1962). “Poems of William Butler Yeats”, p.186, Hayes Barton Press

Earth in beauty dressed Awaits returning spring. All true love must die, Alter at the best Into some lesser thing. Prove that I lie.

William Butler Yeats
Spring, Lying, Loss
William Butler Yeats (2011). “Selected Poems And Four Plays”, p.151, Simon and Schuster

A daughter of a King of Ireland, heard A voice singing on a May Eve like this, And followed half awake and half asleep, Until she came into the Land of Faery, Where nobody gets old and godly and grave, Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue. And she is still there, busied with a dance Deep in the dewy shadow of a wood, Or where stars walk upon a mountain-top.

William Butler Yeats
Wise, Daughter, Kings
William Butler Yeats (1814). “The Land of Heart's Desire”, p.12

I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.

William Butler Yeats
Hate, Fighting, Fate
"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" l. 1 (1919)

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