William Butler Yeats
Ireland
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
13 Jun 1865 // 28 Jan 1939
Poet
Quotes
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I have read somewhere that in the Emperor's palace at Byzantium was a tree made of gold and silver, and artificial birds that sang.
Yeat's note
The woods of Arcady are dead,
And over is their antique joy;
Of old the world on dreaming fed
Gray Truth is now her painted toy.
And over is their antique joy;
Of old the world on dreaming fed
Gray Truth is now her painted toy.
Crossways, 1889, The Song of the Happy Shepherd
Fair and foul are near of kin
And fair needs foul,' I cried.
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied.'
And fair needs foul,' I cried.
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied.'
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933. Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old.
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old.
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. The Wild Swans at Coole
Somewhere beyond the curtain
Of distorting days
Lives that lonely thing
That shone before these eyes
Targeted, trod like Spring.
Of distorting days
Lives that lonely thing
That shone before these eyes
Targeted, trod like Spring.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933. Quarrel in Old Age
Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
That the future years had come,
Dancing to a frenzied drum,
Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
Michael Robartes and the Dancer, 1921. A Prayer for My Daughter
The fascination of what's difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.
Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
Spontaneous joy and natural content
Out of my heart.
The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910. The Fascination of What's Difficult
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds.
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds.
The Wild Swans at Coole 1919. An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
Everything that man esteems
Endures a moment or a day.
Love's pleasure drives his love away,
The painter's brush consumes his dreams.
Endures a moment or a day.
Love's pleasure drives his love away,
The painter's brush consumes his dreams.
The Tower, 1928. Two Songs from a Play
But what is Whiggery?
A leveling, rancorous, rational sort of mind
That never looked out of the eye of a saint
Or out of a drunkard's eye.
A leveling, rancorous, rational sort of mind
That never looked out of the eye of a saint
Or out of a drunkard's eye.
The Winding Stair and Other Poems, 1933. The Seven Sages
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