William Butler Yeats
Ireland
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
Quotes
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I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor.
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor.
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
Heaven blazing into the head:
Tragedy wrought to its uttermost.
Though Hamlet rambles and Lear rages
And all the drop-scenes drop at once
Upon a hundred thousand stages
It cannot grow by an inch or an ounce.
Tragedy wrought to its uttermost.
Though Hamlet rambles and Lear rages
And all the drop-scenes drop at once
Upon a hundred thousand stages
It cannot grow by an inch or an ounce.
Last Poems, 1936-1939, Lapis Lazuli
I said, 'A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment's though
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Better go down upon your marrow-bones
And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones.'
Yet if it does not seem a moment's though
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Better go down upon your marrow-bones
And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones.'
In the Seven Woods, 1904. Adam's Curse
Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.
Crossways, 1889. Down by the Salley Gardens
Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy kind delight.
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy kind delight.
In the Seven Woods, 1904. Never Give All the Heart
Speech after long silence; it is right,
All other lovers being estranged or dead ...
That we descant and yet again descant
Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song:
Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young
We loved each other and were ignorant.
All other lovers being estranged or dead ...
That we descant and yet again descant
Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song:
Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young
We loved each other and were ignorant.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933, After Long Silence
In life courtesy and self-possession, and in the arts style, are the sensible impressions of the free mind, for both arise out of a deliberate shaping of all things and from never being swept away, whatever the emotion into confusion or dullness.
Essays and Introductions, 1960, Poetry and the Tradition
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
The years like great black oxen tread the world
And God the herdsman goads them on behind
And I am broken by their passing feet.
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
The years like great black oxen tread the world
And God the herdsman goads them on behind
And I am broken by their passing feet.
The Countess Cathleen, 1892
I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world's eyes
As though they'd wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there's more enterprise
In walking naked.
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat
But the fools caught it,
Wore it in the world's eyes
As though they'd wrought it.
Song, let them take it,
For there's more enterprise
In walking naked.
Responsibilities. A Coat
All things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old
The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
The heavy steps of the plowman, splashing the wintry mold,
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.
The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart,
The heavy steps of the plowman, splashing the wintry mold,
Are wronging your image that blossoms a rose in the deeps of my heart.
The Wind Among the Reeds, 1899, The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart
Search
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