William Butler Yeats Quotes
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His element is so fine Being sharpened by his death, To drink from the wine-breath While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.
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I know, although when looks meet I tremble to the bone, The more I leave the door unlatched The sooner love is gone.
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That beautiful mild woman for whose sake There's many a one shall find out all heartache On finding that her voice is sweet and low Replied, 'To be born a woman is to know- Although they do not talk of it at school - That we must labor to be beautiful.
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Myself I must remake.
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Only that which does not teach, which does not cry out, which does not condescend, which does not explain, is irresistible.
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A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him up for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown.
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Earth in beauty dressed Awaits returning spring. All true love must die, Alter at the best Into some lesser thing. Prove that I lie.
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The soul of man is of the imperishable substance of the stars!
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When I clamber to the heights of sleep, Or when I grow excited with wine, suddenly I meet your face.
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Man's life is thought, And he, despite his terror, cannot cease Ravening through century after century, Ravening, raging, and uprooting that he may come Into the desolation of reality.
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The women take so little stock In what I do or say They'd sooner leave their cosseting To hear a jackass bray.
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Farewell - farewell, For I am weary of the weight of time.
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Processions that lack high stilts have nothing that catches the eye. What if my great-granddad had a pair that were twenty foot high, And mine were but fifteen foot, no modern stalks upon higher, Some rogue of the world stole them to patch up a fence or a fire.
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Whatever flames upon the night Man's own resinous heart has fed.
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A living man is blind and drinks his drop. What matter if the ditches are impure? What matter if I live it all once more?
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Everything that man esteems Endures a moment or a day.
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We poets would die of loneliness but for women, and we choose our men friends that we may have somebody to talk about women with. Letter to Olivia Shakespeare, 1936
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Once you attempt legislation upon religious grounds, you open the way for every kind of intolerance and religious persecution.
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The labor of the alchemists, who were called artist in their day, is a befitting comparison for a deliberate change of style.
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The friends that have it I do wrong Whenever I remake a song, Should know what issue is at stake: It is myself that I remake.
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Come, fix upon me that accusing eye. I thirst for accusation. All that was sung. All that was said in Ireland is a lie Breed out of the contagion of the throng, Saving the rhyme rats hear before they die.
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Test every work of intellect or faith, And everything that your own hands have wrought And call those works extravagance of breath That are not suited for such men as come Proud, open-eyed and laughing to the tomb.
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Now must we sing and sing the best we can, But first you must be told your character: Convicted cowards all, by kindred slain.
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It was my first meeting with a philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.