Robert Graves Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• The sap of Spring in the young wood a-stir Will celebrate with green the Mother, And every song-bird shout awhile for her; But we are gifted, even in November Rawest of seasons, with so huge a sense Of Her nakedly worn magnificence We forget cruelty and past betrayal, Heedless of where the next bright bolt may fall.

  Robert Graves

  Mother, Song, Betrayal

  Robert Graves (1955). “Collected poems, 1955”

  7 Copy quote

• Nine-tenths of English poetic literature is the result either of vulgar careerism or of a poet trying to keep his hand in. Most poets are dead by their late twenties.

  Robert Graves

  Hands, Poetry, Trying

  "Ten key things about... poetry" by Dorota Nosowicz, www.theguardian.com. October 1, 2000.

  6 Copy quote

• About this business of being a gentleman: I paid so heavily for the fourteen years of my gentleman's education that I feel entitled, now and then, to get some sort of return.

  Robert Graves

  Years, Gentleman, Return

  Robert Graves (1980). “Good-Bye to All That: With a Prologue and an Epilogue”, Octagon Press, Limited

  4 Copy quote

• Love is universal migraine, A bright stain on the vision Blotting out reason. Symptoms of true love Are leanness, jealousy, Laggard dawns; Are omens and nightmares - Listening for a knock, Waiting for a sign: For a touch of her fingers In a darkened room, For a searching look. Take courage, lover! Could you endure such pain At any hand but hers?

  Robert Graves

  Pain, Love Is, Hands

  Robert Graves, Beryl Graves, Dunstan Ward (1999). “Complete poems”, Carcanet Pr

  11 Copy quote

• I believe that every English poet should read the English classics, master the rules of grammar before he attempts to bend or break them, travel abroad, experience the horrors of sordid passion, and - if he is lucky enough - know the love of an honest woman.

  Robert Graves

  Believe, Passion, Poetry

  Lecture at Oxford. Time, December 15, 1961.

  8 Copy quote

• A banker warned the British poet Robert Graves that one could not grow rich writing poetry. He replied that if there was no money in poetry, there was certainly no poetry in money, and so it was all even.

  Robert Graves

  Writing, Bankers, Rich

  4 Copy quote

• But give thanks, at least, that you still have Frost's poems; and when you feel the need of solitude, retreat to the companionship of moon, water, hills and trees. Retreat, he reminds us, should not be confused with escape. And take these poems along for good luck!

  Robert Graves

  Confused, Good Luck, Moon

  4 Copy quote

• The gas-cylinders had by this time been put into position on the front line. A special order came round imposing severe penalties on anyone who used any word but "accessory" in speaking of the gas. This was to keep it secret, but the French civilians knew all about the scheme long before this.

  Robert Graves

  War, Order, Long

  Robert Graves, Steven Trout (2008). “Goodbye to all that: and other great war writings”, Carcanet Press Ltd.

  4 Copy quote

• Faults in English prose derive not so much from lack of knowledge, intelligence or art as from lack of thought, patience or goodwill.

  Robert Graves

  Art, Faults, Goodwill

  Robert Graves (2006). “The Long Weekend : a Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939: And, The Reader Over Your Shoulder : a Handbook for Writers of English Prose”, Carcanet Press

  4 Copy quote

• The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.

  Robert Graves

  Writing, Awards, Gold

  Robert Graves (1962). “Oxford Addresses on Poetry”

  8 Copy quote

• To recommend a monarchy on account of the prosperity it gives the provinces seems to me like recommending that a man should have liberty to treat his children as slaves, if at the same time he treats his slaves with reasonable consideration.

  Robert Graves

  Children, Men, Should Have

  Robert Graves, Richard Francis (2000). “I, Claudius ; and, Claudius the god”, Carcanet Press Ltd.

  4 Copy quote

• A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end.
  Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.

  Robert Graves

  Perfect, Poetry, Immature

  8 Copy quote

• Children born of fairy stock Never need for shirt or frock, Never want for food or fire, Always get their heart's desire.

  Robert Graves

  Children, Heart, Fire

  Robert Graves, Beryl Graves, Dunstan Ward (1999). “Complete poems”, Carcanet Pr

  7 Copy quote

• For words of rapture groping, they"Never such love," swore "ever before was!"

  Robert Graves

  I Love You, Love You, Rapture

  Robert Graves (2013). “Selected Poems”, p.99, Faber & Faber

  4 Copy quote

• Love without hope, as when the young bird-catcher Swept off his tall hat to the Squire's own daughter, So let the imprisoned larks escape and fly Singing about her head, as she rode by.

  Robert Graves

  Daughter, Bird, Singing

  Robert Graves (2013). “Selected Poems”, p.54, Faber & Faber

  4 Copy quote

• Well, we've been lucky devils both
  And there is no need for a pledge or oath
  To bind our lovely friendship fast,
  By firmer stuff
  Close bound enough.

  Robert Graves

  Friendship, Lovely, Devil

  Robert Graves, Beryl Graves, Dunstan Ward (1999). “Complete poems”, Carcanet Pr

  4 Copy quote

• Poetry began in the matriarchal age, and derives its magic from the moon, not from the sun. No poet can hope to understand the nature of poetry unless he has had a vision of the Naked King crucified to the lopped oak, and watched the dancers, red-eyed from the acrid smoke of the sacrificial fires, stamping out the measure of the dance, their bodies bent uncouthly forward, with a monotonous chant of "Kill! kill! kill!" and "Blood! blood! blood!

  Robert Graves

  Kings, Moon, Fire

  4 Copy quote

• Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.

  Robert Graves

  Truth, Marathon

  "The Persian Version" l. 1 (1945)

  4 Copy quote

• Love at first sight'some say misnaming Discovery of twinned helplessness Against the huge tug of procreation. But friendship at first sight? This also Catches fiercely at the surprised heart So that the cheek blanches then blushes.

  Robert Graves

  Heart, Sight, Discovery

  Robert Graves (1997). “Complete Poems”

  4 Copy quote

• Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.

  Robert Graves

  Links, Fields, Language

  Robert Graves, Patrick J. Quinn (2000). “Some speculations on literature, history, and religion”, Carcanet Press Ltd.

  10 Copy quote

• I have done many impious things--no great ruler can do otherwise. I have put the good of the Empire before all human considerations. To keep the Empire free from factions I have had to commit many crimes.

  Robert Graves

  Done, Empires, Crime

  Robert Graves, Richard Francis (2000). “I, Claudius ; and, Claudius the god”, Carcanet Press Ltd.

  4 Copy quote

• Poetry is no more a narcotic than a stimulant; it is a universal bittersweet mixture for all possible household emergencies and its action varies accordingly as it is taken in a wineglass or a tablespoon, inhaled, gargled or rubbed on the chest by hard fingers covered with rings.

  Robert Graves

  Taken, Mixtures, Emergencies

  16 Copy quote

• Any honest housewife would sort them out,/ Having a nose for fish, an eye for apples.

  Robert Graves

  Eye, Apples, Noses

  Robert Graves (1959). “Collected Poems, 1959”, London : Cassell

  10 Copy quote

• You mean that people who continue virtuous in an old-fashioned way must inevitably suffer in times like these?

  Robert Graves

  Mean, Times Like These, People

  Robert Graves (1982). “Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina: The Troublesome Reign of Tiberius Claudius Caesar, Emperor of the Romans (born 10 B.C., Died A.D. 54), as Described by Himself, Also His Murder at the Hands of the Notorious Agrippina (mother of the Emperor Nero) and His Subsequent Deification, as Described by Others”

  4 Copy quote

• When I'm killed, don't think of me Buried there in Cambrin Wood, Nor as in Zion think of me With the Intolerable Good. And there's one thing that I know well, I'm damned if I'll be damned to Hell!

  Robert Graves

  Thinking, Zion, Woods

  Robert Graves, Beryl Graves, Dunstan Ward (1999). “Complete poems”, Carcanet Pr

  4 Copy quote

Page 4 of 5

First

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin