William Butler Yeats
Ireland
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
Quotes
<< Prev Next >>
For to articulate sweet sounds together
Is to work harder than all these, and yet
Be thought an idler by the noisy set
Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen
The martyrs call the world.
Is to work harder than all these, and yet
Be thought an idler by the noisy set
Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen
The martyrs call the world.
In the Seven Woods, 1904. Adam's Curse
Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!
The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!
The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
Last Poems, 1936-1939, The Great Day
Down the mountain walls
From where Pan's cavern is
Intolerable music falls.
Foul goat-head, brutal arm appear,
Belly, shoulder, bum,
Flash fishlike; nymphs and satyrs
Copulate in the foam.
From where Pan's cavern is
Intolerable music falls.
Foul goat-head, brutal arm appear,
Belly, shoulder, bum,
Flash fishlike; nymphs and satyrs
Copulate in the foam.
Last Poems, 1936-1939, News for the Delphic Oracle
Things said or done long years ago
Or things I did not do or say
But thought that I might say or do,
Weigh me down, and not a day
But something is recalled,
My conscience or my vanity appalled.
Or things I did not do or say
But thought that I might say or do,
Weigh me down, and not a day
But something is recalled,
My conscience or my vanity appalled.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933, Vacillation
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;�
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,�
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;�
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,�
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now and go to Innisfree
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
The Rose, 1893. The Lake Isle of Innisfree
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
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