William Stafford Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.

  William Stafford

  Rivers, Topics, Kind

  15 Copy quote

• Language can do what it can’t say.

  William Stafford

  Language, Can Do

  William Stafford, Paul Merchant, Vincent Wixon (1998). “Crossing unmarked snow: further views on the writer's vocation”, Univ of Michigan Pr

  6 Copy quote

• The greatest ownership of all is to glance around and understand.

  William Stafford

  Ownership, Glances

  William Stafford (1977). “Stories that could be true: new and collected poems”, HarperCollins Publishers

  12 Copy quote

• Keep a journal, and don't assume that your work has to accomplish anything worthy: artists and peace-workers are in it for the long haul, and not to be judged by immediate results.

  William Stafford

  Artist, Long, Assuming

  6 Copy quote

• It is this impulse to change the quality of experience that I recognize as central to creation. . . . Out of all that could be done, you choose one thing. What that one thing is, nothing else can tell you--you come at it over unmarked snow.

  William Stafford

  Snow, Quality, Done

  William Stafford, Paul Merchant, Vincent Wixon (1998). “Crossing unmarked snow: further views on the writer's vocation”, Univ of Michigan Pr

  5 Copy quote

• You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self.

  William Stafford

  Exercise, Self, Quirky

  William Stafford (1986). “You must revise your life”, University of Michigan Press

  6 Copy quote

• The root and the flower have to trust each other. If the root does not trust, the plant won't blossom.

  William Stafford

  Flower, Roots, Doe

  4 Copy quote

• ...What you fear will not go away; it will take you into yourself and bless you and keep you. That's the world, and we all live there.

  William Stafford

  Fear, Going Away, World

  William Stafford (1998). “The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems”, Graywolf Press

  19 Copy quote

• The earth says have a place, be what that place
  requires; hear the sound the birds imply
  and see as deep as ridges go behind
  each other.

  William Stafford

  Bird, Sound, Earth

  William Stafford, Paul Merchant, Vincent Wixon (2003). “The answers are inside the mountains: meditations on the writing life”, Univ of Michigan Pr

  9 Copy quote

• All still when summer is over stand shocks in the field, nothing left to whisper, not even good-bye, to the wind. After summer was over we knew winter would come: we knew silence would wait, tall, patient calm.

  William Stafford

  Summer, Winter, Wind

  William Stafford (1977). “Stories that could be true: new and collected poems”, HarperCollins Publishers

  7 Copy quote

• A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.

  William Stafford

  Attention, Speech

  William Stafford, Kim Robert Stafford (2003). “Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War”, p.34, Milkweed Editions

  19 Copy quote

• My question is "when did other people give up the idea of being a poet?" You know, when we are kids we make up things, we write, and for me the puzzle is not that some people are still writing, the real question is why did the other people stop?

  William Stafford

  Giving Up, Real, Kids

  William Stafford (1978). “Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer's Vocation”

  5 Copy quote

• It's love,' they say. You touch the right one and a whole half of the universe wakes up, a new half.

  William Stafford

  Wake Up, Half, Whole

  William Stafford (2014). “Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems of William Stafford”, p.119, Macmillan

  10 Copy quote

• Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
  than the breathing respect that you carry
  wherever you go right now?

  William Stafford

  Breathing, World, Right Now

  William Stafford (1998). “The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems”, Graywolf Press

  12 Copy quote

• You can lie at a banquet but you have to be honest in the kitchen.

  William Stafford

  Lying, Kitchen, Honest

  William Stafford, Paul Merchant, Vincent Wixon (1998). “Crossing unmarked snow: further views on the writer's vocation”, Univ of Michigan Pr

  4 Copy quote

• The signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-/should be clear/the darkness around us is deep.

  William Stafford

  Giving, Darkness, Should

  William Stafford, Kim Robert Stafford (2003). “Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War”, p.90, Milkweed Editions

  4 Copy quote

• Literature is not a picture of life, but is a separate experience with its own kind of flow and enhancement.

  William Stafford

  Literature, Flow, Enhancement

  William Stafford (1978). “Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer's Vocation”

  8 Copy quote

• It is as if the ordinary language we use every day has a hidden set of signals, a kind of secret code.

  William Stafford

  Secret, Ordinary, Use

  William Stafford, Paul Merchant, Vincent Wixon (1998). “Crossing unmarked snow: further views on the writer's vocation”, Univ of Michigan Pr

  4 Copy quote

• If you can say it, it begins to exist.

  William Stafford

  Ifs

  4 Copy quote

• The more you let yourself be distracted from where you are going, the more you are the person that you are. It's not so much like getting lost as it is like getting found.

  William Stafford

  Getting Lost, Madness, Found

  12 Copy quote

• When the snake decided to go straight, he didn't get anywhere.

  William Stafford

  Journey, Snakes, Decided

  15 Copy quote

• They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king.

  William Stafford

  Running, Kings, Dark

  William Stafford (1977). “Stories that could be true: new and collected poems”, HarperCollins Publishers

  4 Copy quote

• Once you decide to do right, life is easy, there are no distractions.

  William Stafford

  Decision, Life Is, Distraction

  8 Copy quote

• When
  you allow me to live with you, every
  glance at the world around you will be
  a sort of salvation.

  William Stafford

  World, Salvation, Glances

  William Stafford (1986). “You must revise your life”, University of Michigan Press

  9 Copy quote

• A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.

  William Stafford

  Crafts, Serious, Jokes

  William Stafford (1978). “Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer's Vocation”

  7 Copy quote

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