William Butler Yeats Quotes - Page 23

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It was my first meeting with a philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.

William Butler Yeats

Philosophy, Firsts, Hinduism

William Butler Yeats (2010). “The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol. III: Autobiogra”, p.98, Simon and Schuster

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I have nothing but the embittered sun;
Banished heroic mother moon and vanished,
And now that I have come to fifty years
I must endure the timid sun.

William Butler Yeats

Mother, Moon, Reality

William Butler Yeats (1931). “Later Poems”, p.109, Library of Alexandria

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I would that there was nothing in the world
But my beloved that night and day had perished,
And all that is and all that is to be,
All that is not the meeting of our lips.

William Butler Yeats

Night, World, Lips

William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.435, Simon and Schuster

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Irish poets, learn your trade, sing whatever is well made, scorn the sort now growing up all out of shape from toe to top.

William Butler Yeats

Growing Up, Shapes, Toes

Last Poems (1939) "Under Ben Bulben" pt. 5

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When we are high and airy hundreds say
That if we hold that flight they'll leave the place,
While those same hundreds mock another day
Because we have made our art of common things.

William Butler Yeats

Art, Public Opinion, Another Day

William Butler Yeats (1931). “Later Poems”, p.72, Library of Alexandria

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That beautiful mild woman for whose sake There's many a one shall find out all heartache On finding that her voice is sweet and low Replied, 'To be born a woman is to know- Although they do not talk of it at school - That we must labor to be beautiful.

William Butler Yeats

Beautiful, Sweet, School

William Butler Yeats (2008). “COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS”, p.210, Simon and Schuster

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And if joy were not on the earth,
There were an end of change and birth,
And Earth and Heaven and Hell would die,
And in some gloomy barrow lie
Folded like a frozen fly.

William Butler Yeats

Life, Change, Lying

William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.368, Simon and Schuster

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All things can tempt me from this craft of verse:
One time it was a woman's face, or worse--
The seeming needs of my fool-driven land;
Now nothing but comes readier to the hand
Than this accustomed toil.

William Butler Yeats

Hands, Land, Poetry

William Butler Yeats (1962). “Poems of William Butler Yeats”, p.38, Hayes Barton Press

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Odor of blood when Christ was slain Made all Platonic tolerance vain And vain all Doric discipline.

William Butler Yeats

Blood, Discipline, Tolerance

Thomas Stearns Eliot, William Butler Yeats (2001). “YER”

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I pray-for fashion's word is out And prayer comes round again- That I may seem, though I die old, A foolish, passionate man.

William Butler Yeats

Death, Fashion, Prayer

William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.288, Simon and Schuster

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How can they know
Truth flourishes where the student's lamp has shone,
And there alone, that have no solitude?
So the crowd come they care not what may come.
They have loud music, hope every day renewed
And heartier loves; that lamp is from the tomb.

William Butler Yeats

Truth, Solitude, Lamps

William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.156, Wordsworth Editions

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For what but eye and ear silence the mind
With the minute particulars of mankind?

William Butler Yeats

Eye, Silence, Mind

William Butler Yeats (1962). “Poems of William Butler Yeats”, p.233, Hayes Barton Press

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Now must we sing and sing the best we can,
But first you must be told your character:
Convicted cowards all, by kindred slain.

William Butler Yeats

Character, Coward, Firsts

William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.170

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But stories that live longest
Are sung above the glass,
And Parnell loved his country
And Parnell loved his lass.

William Butler Yeats

Country, Glasses, Stories

William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.265, Wordsworth Editions

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Why should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, Or hurled the little streets upon the great, Had they but courage equal to desire? What could have made her peaceful with a mind That nobleness made simple as a fire, With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind That is not natural in an age like this Being high and solitary and most stern? Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?

William Butler Yeats

Simple, Men, Fire

"No Second Troy" l. 11 (1910)

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Give to these children, new from the world,
Rest far from men.
Is anything better, anything better?
Tell us it then.

William Butler Yeats

Life, Children, Men

William Butler Yeats (2000). “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats”, p.30, Wordsworth Editions

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I say that Roger Casement
Did what he had to do,
He died upon the gallows
But that is nothing new.

William Butler Yeats

Roger, Killing, Gallows

William Butler Yeats (1997). “The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition”, p.312, Simon and Schuster

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I knew a phoenix in my youth, so let them have their day.

William Butler Yeats

Phoenix, Youth

'His Phoenix'

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Labor is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul, Nor beauty born out of its own despair, Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil. O chestnut tree, great-rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance How can we know the dancer from the dance?

William Butler Yeats

Wisdom, Oil, Dancing

"Among School Children" l. 57 (1928) See Quarles 1

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How can the arts overcome the slow dying of men's hearts that we call progress ?

William Butler Yeats

Art, Men, Progress

William Butler Yeats (2001). “The Major Works”, p.364

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Education is not filling

William Butler Yeats

Filling

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The world being illusive, one must be deluded in some way if one is to triumph in it.

William Butler Yeats

Triumph, World, Way

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The woods of Arcady are dead, And over is their antique joy; Of old the world on dreaming fed Gray Truth is now her painted toy.

William Butler Yeats

Dream, Truth, Joy

William Butler Yeats (2015). “When You Are Old: Early Poems, Plays, and Fairy Tales”, p.142, Penguin

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What made us dream that he could comb gray hair?

William Butler Yeats

Dream, Hair, Made

Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenit︠s︡yn, Rabindranath Tagore, Sigrid Undset, William Butler Yeats (1971). “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Rabindranath Tagore, Sigrid Undset [and] William Butler Yeats”

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I kiss you and kiss you, With arms around my own, Ah, how shall I miss you, When, dear, you have grown.

William Butler Yeats

Kissing, Missing, Arms

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Born: June 13, 1865
Died: January 28, 1939
Occupation: Poet
Cite this Page: Citation

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