Latest David Whyte Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world with its harsh need to change you. If you can look back with firm eyes saying this is where I stand.

  David Whyte

  Eye, Needs, Looks

  David Whyte (2009). “The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship”, p.60, Penguin

• I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat. I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God.

  David Whyte

  Passion, Want, Bitter

• It doesn't interest me if there is one God or many gods. I want to know if you belong or feel abandoned. If you know despair or can see it in others.

  David Whyte

  Despair, Want, Abandoned

  David Whyte (2009). “The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship”, p.60, Penguin

• In England especially, poetry's woven into the background fabric of society. And in Ireland, it's in the foreground. The place of the poet in Irish society is enormous. If you say you're a poet in Ireland, you'd better know what you're doing, because the standard and the expectations are incredibly high.

  David Whyte

  Expectations, Fabric, England

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• The workplace needs the poet's gift. But the poet also needs to be educated about the workplace. You're not just coming in to do your art, you're actually making yourself vulnerable. You yourself are not God's gift to truth. You have to hazard yourself in their world, especially because you're inviting people to do the same. It's all about become visible, becoming incarnate, becoming here and now and yet with our eyes on a future horizon; holding the conversation you were meant to hold.

  David Whyte

  Art, Eye, People

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• A good poem has its own life. It's like bringing a child into the world. You, the poet, birthed the child, but the child will surprise you continually. I think a work of art has its own aliveness, its own future.

  David Whyte

  Art, Children, Thinking

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• When I recite poems onstage, I put myself into the very personal struggle and it grants tremendous perspective. At the same time you get another perspective on the poem you're reciting.

  David Whyte

  Struggle, Perspective, Grants

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• You'll always love the person, if you're sensible. But you get a lot of people, especially in divorces and separations, doing a lot of damage to themselves, because they can't figure out that they actually still love this person, but not in their original way.

  David Whyte

  Divorce, People, Way

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• Shyness means you are in the hallway of a greater presence. You just don't know how to take the conversation another step. It's a lovely indication.

  David Whyte

  Mean, Lovely, Steps

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• Everyone casts a shadow. Everyone has a relationship with the fearful unknown.

  David Whyte

  Shadow, Casts, Fearful

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties.

  David Whyte

  Loss, Dishonesty, Conscious

  Source: spiritualityhealth.com

• I love the best of all the traditions. My discipline is the take-no-prisoners language of good poetry, but a language that actually frees us from prejudice, no matter what religion or political persuasion they are. I try to create a river-like discourse. The river is not political, it's not on your side or against you. It's an invitation into the onward flow.

  David Whyte

  Your Side, Rivers, Discipline

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• The art form has to do with the mystery and the hidden invitation that's in the room. And that's when the magic happens, that's when the deep silence emerges to the surprise of all the attentively listening ears. In a way, you're following that silence. You go where the silence is deepest.

  David Whyte

  Art, Listening Ear, Silence

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• If I don't have time for the writing, it's because I'm not making that time. It's really just a question of whether you want to or not, whether you feel you deserve to write or not.

  David Whyte

  Writing, Want, Feels

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.

• Poetry for me has been a long pilgrimage, a journey and a growing relationship with the unknown.

  David Whyte

  Journey, Long, Growing

  "Courageous Conversations: An Interview with David Whyte". Interview with Kim Rosen, spiritualityhealth.com. December 8, 2014.