A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed read more

A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed that when the sighs and the cries escape them, they sound like beautiful music... and then people crowd about the poet and say to him: "Sing for us soon again;" that is as much as to say, "May new sufferings torment your soul.".

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.

Poetry is the utterance of deep and heart-felt truth--the true poet is very near the oracle.

Poetry is the utterance of deep and heart-felt truth--the true poet is very near the oracle.

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning read more

A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times.

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his read more

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

Of our conflicts with others we make rhetoric; of our conflicts with ourselves we make poetry.

Of our conflicts with others we make rhetoric; of our conflicts with ourselves we make poetry.

Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.

Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.