William Butler Yeats
Ireland
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
Quotes
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Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast
Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveler; he
Served human liberty.
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his breast
Imitate him if you dare,
World-besotted traveler; he
Served human liberty.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933. Swift's Epitaph
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. The Cat and the Moon
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. The Cat and the Moon
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. The Cat and the Moon
You think it horrible that lust and rage
Should dance attention upon my old age;
They were not such a plague when I was young;
What else have I to spur me into song?
Should dance attention upon my old age;
They were not such a plague when I was young;
What else have I to spur me into song?
Last Poems, 1936-1939, The Spur
The night can sweat with terror as before
We pieced our thoughts into philosophy,
And planned to bring the world under a rule,
Who are but weasels fighting in a hole.
We pieced our thoughts into philosophy,
And planned to bring the world under a rule,
Who are but weasels fighting in a hole.
The Tower, 1928. Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
One had a lovely face,
And two or three had charm,
But charm and face were in vain.
Because the mountain grass
Cannot keep the form
Where the mountain hare has lain.
And two or three had charm,
But charm and face were in vain.
Because the mountain grass
Cannot keep the form
Where the mountain hare has lain.
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933. A Dialogue of Self and Soul
We have lit upon the gentle, sensitive mind
And lost the old nonchalance of the hand;
Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush,
We are but critics, or but half create.
And lost the old nonchalance of the hand;
Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush,
We are but critics, or but half create.
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. Ego Dominus Tuas
How many loved your moments of glad grace
And loved your beauty with love false or true
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
And loved your beauty with love false or true
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
The Rose, 1893. When You Are Old
I gave what other women gave
That stepped out of their clothes
But when this soul, its body off
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows.
That stepped out of their clothes
But when this soul, its body off
Naked to naked goes,
He it has found shall find therein
What none other knows.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933. A Woman Young and Old, A Last Confession
John Synge, I and Augusta Gregory, thought
All that we did, all that we said or sang
Must come from contact with the soil, from that
Contact everything Antaeus-like grew strong.
All that we did, all that we said or sang
Must come from contact with the soil, from that
Contact everything Antaeus-like grew strong.
Last Poems, 1936-1939, The Municipal Gallery Revisited
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays