Robinson Jeffers Quotes

Quotes about:

• I believe that the universe is one being, all its parts are different expressions of the same energy... parts of one organic whole.... (This is physics, I believe, as well as religion.) The parts change and pass, or die, people and races and rocks and stars; none of them seems to me important in itself, but only the whole. This whole is in all its parts so beautiful, and is felt by me to be so intensely in earnest, that I am compelled to love it, and to think of it as divine.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Love, Beautiful, Stars

  Robinson Jeffers, Albert Gelpi (2003). “The Wild God of the World: An Anthology of Robinson Jeffers”, p.189, Stanford University Press

  40 Copy quote

• Nature knows that people are a tide that swells and in time will ebb, and all their works dissolve ... As for us: We must uncenter our minds from ourselves. We must unhumanize our views a little and become confident as the rock and ocean that we are made from.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Ocean, Rocks, Views

  "Carmel Point". Poem by Robinson Jeffers, 1951.

  54 Copy quote

• It is only a little planet, but how beautiful it is.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Beautiful, Earth, Littles

  Robinson Jeffers, Morley Baer, James Karman (2001). “Stones of the Sur”, p.20, Stanford University Press

  33 Copy quote

• Imagination, the traitor of the mind, has taken my solitude and slain it.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Taken, Imagination, Solitude

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.148, Stanford University Press

  53 Copy quote

• Know that however ugly the parts appear
  the whole remains beautiful...
  ... the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
  of the universe. Love that, not man
  Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,
  or drown in despair when his days darken.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Beautiful, Men, Divine Beauty

  Robinson Jeffers, James Karman, Una Jeffers (2009). “The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers: With Selected Letters of Una Jeffers”, p.65, Stanford University Press

  38 Copy quote

• Cruelty is a part of nature, at least of human nature, but it is the one thing that seems unnatural to us.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Human Nature, Cruelty, Humans

  51 Copy quote

• Long live freedom and damn the ideologies.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Long, Live Free, Damn

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (1988). “The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: 1938-1962”, p.26, Stanford University Press

  33 Copy quote

• A little too abstract, a little too wise, It is time for us to kiss the earth again, It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies, Let the rich life run to the roots again.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Wise, Running, Rain

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.499, Stanford University Press

  30 Copy quote

• Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Poetry, Instinct, Appeals

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (1988). “The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: Poetry 1903-1920, prose, and unpublished writings”, p.425, Stanford University Press

  23 Copy quote

• The greatest beauty is organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Divine Beauty, Divine, Wholeness

  Robinson Jeffers, James Karman, Una Jeffers (2009). “The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers: With Selected Letters of Una Jeffers”, p.65, Stanford University Press

  11 Copy quote

• The tides are in our veins.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Water, Tides, Veins

  Robinson Jeffers, Morley Baer, James Karman (2001). “Stones of the Sur”, p.39, Stanford University Press

  22 Copy quote

• The world's in a bad way, my man, And bound to be worse before it mends; Better lie up in the mountain here Four or five centuries, While the stars go over the lonely ocean.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Lonely, Stars, Lying

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.564, Stanford University Press

  22 Copy quote

• The tides are in our veins, we still mirror the stars, life is your child, but there is in me Older and harder than life and more impartial, the eye that watched before there was an ocean.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Stars, Children, Ocean

  Robinson Jeffers, Morley Baer, James Karman (2001). “Stones of the Sur”, p.39, Stanford University Press

  15 Copy quote

• That public men publish falsehoods Is nothing new. That America must accept Like the historical republics corruption and empire Has been known for years. Be angry at the sun for setting If these things anger you.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Men, America, Years

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (1988). “The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: 1938-1962”, p.24, Stanford University Press

  17 Copy quote

• Still the mind smiles at its own rebellions.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Mind, Rebellion, Stills

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.399, Stanford University Press

  25 Copy quote

• Happy people die whole, they are all dissolved in a moment, they have had what they wanted.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Happiness, People, Moments

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.753, Stanford University Press

  24 Copy quote

• Does it matter whether you hate yourself? At least love your eyes that can see, your mind that can hear the music, the thunder of the wings.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Hate, Eye, Wings

  Robinson Jeffers, “Love The Wild Swan”

  5 Copy quote

• The heads of strong old age are beautiful beyond all grace of youth.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Beautiful, Strong, Grace

  Robinson Jeffers, “Promise Of Peace”

  8 Copy quote

• Hear the music, the thunder of the wings. Love the wild swan.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Love, Swans, Wings

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (2001). “The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers”, p.500, Stanford University Press

  10 Copy quote

• [K]now that however ugly the parts appear the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand Is an ugly thing, and man dissevered from the earth and stars and his history... for contemplation or in fact... Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Beauty, Beautiful, Stars

  Robinson Jeffers, James Karman, Una Jeffers (2009). “The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers: With Selected Letters of Una Jeffers”, p.65, Stanford University Press

  10 Copy quote

• Seagulls . . . slim yachts of the element.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Bird, Elements, Slim

  118 Copy quote

• Know that however ugly the parts appear the whole remains beautiful.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Beauty, Beautiful, Ugly

  Robinson Jeffers, James Karman, Una Jeffers (2009). “The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers: With Selected Letters of Una Jeffers”, p.65, Stanford University Press

  7 Copy quote

• I've changed my ways a little, I cannot now Run with you in the evenings along the shore, Except in a kind of dream, and you, if you dream a moment, You see me there.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Running, Dream, Littles

  16 Copy quote

• O that our souls could scale a height like this, A mighty mountain swept o'er by the bleak Keen winds of heaven; and, standing on that peak Above the blinding clouds of prejudice, Would we could see all truly as it is; The calm eternal truth would keep us meek.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Clouds, Wind, Heaven

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (1988). “The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: Poetry 1903-1920, prose, and unpublished writings”, p.6, Stanford University Press

  11 Copy quote

• The cold passion for truth hunts in no pack.

  Robinson Jeffers

  Truth, Passion, Cold

  Robinson Jeffers, Tim Hunt (1988). “The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: 1938-1962”, p.24, Stanford University Press

  7 Copy quote

Page 1 of 3

← Prev

1

2

3

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin