David Whyte Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• To give generously but appropriately and then, most difficult of all, and as the full apotheosis of the art, with feeling, in the moment and spontaneously, has always been recognized as one of the greatest of human qualities.

  David Whyte

  Art, Giving, Feelings

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• It might be liberating to think of human life as informed by losses and disappearances as much as by gifted appearances, allowing a more present participation and witness to the difficulty of living.

  David Whyte

  Loss, Thinking, Might

  "The Poetic Narrative Of Our Times" by David Whyte, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 18, 2010.

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• But what would that be like
  feeling the tide rise
  out of the numbness inside

  David Whyte

  Numbness, Feelings, Tides

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• 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.

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• The frail, vulnerable sounds of which we are capable seem to be essential to a later ability to roar like a lion without scaring everyone to death.

  David Whyte

  Sound, Essentials, Lions

  David Whyte (2007). “The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America”, p.121, Crown Business

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• The truth about our own modest contribution might immobilize us: much easier then, to tell ourselves a story about how much we make our own reality.

  David Whyte

  Reality, Stories, Might

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• Absent the edge, we drown in numbness.

  David Whyte

  Numbness, Absent, Edges

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• Poetry is a break for freedom.

  David Whyte

  Break, Poetry Is

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• 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

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• Shedding the carapace we have been building so assiduously on the surface, we must by definition give up exactly what we thought was necessary to protect us from further harm.

  David Whyte

  Giving Up, Insecurity, Definitions

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• A soul-based workplace asks things of me that I didn't even know I had. It's constantly telling me that I belong to something large in the world.

  David Whyte

  Soul, World, Workplace

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• Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising.

  David Whyte

  Looks, Elbows, Manipulation

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• What we strive for
  in perfection
  is not what turns us
  into the lit angel
  we desire
  what disturbs
  and then nourishes
  has everything
  we need.

  David Whyte

  Inspirational, Angel, Perfection

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• To feel a full and untrammeled joy is to have become fully generous; to allow our selves to be joyful is to have walked through the doorway of fear, the dropping away of the anxious worried self...the vulnerability of happiness felt suddenly as a strength, a solace and a source, the claiming of our place in the living conversation.

  David Whyte

  Self, Joy, Doorways

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Being young and trying to catch a glimpse of the depths, of the true self, of the soul, or whatever human beings have called it over the centuries, we often find ourselves surrounded by bossy, hectoring voices trying to short-circuit our personal experience by super-imposing their own disappointments. Much of this bossiness masquerades as an education.

  David Whyte

  Inspirational, Disappointment, Self

  David Whyte (2009). “The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship”, p.59, Penguin

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• The outlaw is the radical, the one close to the roots of existence. The one who refuses to forget their humanity and, in remembering, helps everyone else remember, too.

  David Whyte

  Roots, Humanity, Helping

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• Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief turning downward through it s black water to the place we cannot breathe will never know the source from which we drink, the secret water, cold and clear, nor find in the darkness glimmering the small round coins thrown by those who wished for something else.

  David Whyte

  Grief, Water, Darkness

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• Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

  David Whyte

  Alertness Is, Discipline, Alertness

  David Whyte (2009). “The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship”, p.50, Penguin

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• and how we are all preparing for that abrupt waking, and that calling, and that moment we have to say yes, except it will not come so grandly, so Biblically, but more subtly and intimately in the face of the one you know you have to love

  David Whyte

  Faith, Calling, Faces

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