Ben Lerner Quotes
Poetry arises from the desire to get beyond the finite and the historical—the human world of violence and difference—and to reach the transcendent or divine. You're moved to write a poem, you feel called upon to sing, because of that transcendent impulse. But as soon as you move from that impulse to the actual poem, the song of the infinite is compromised by the finitude of its terms.
Ben Lerner
Quotes to Explore
Before people complain of the obscurity of modern poetry, they should first examine their consciences and ask themselves with how many people and on how many occasions they have genuinely and profoundly shared some experience with another.
W. H. Auden
The motto of his Robinson Jeffers’s work is 'More! More!'-but as Tolstoy says, 'A wee bit omitted, overemphasized, or exaggerated in poetry, and there is no contagion'; and Frost, bearing him out, says magnificently: 'A very little of anything goes a long way in a work of art.'
Randall Jarrell
Trying to make a living from poetry is like putting chains on butterfly wings.
A. R. Ammons
The rules of sexism do not free men from the terror of violence; they only keep men from complaining about it.
Warren Farrell
His the author's renown has been purchased, not by deeds of violence and blood, but by the diligent dispensation of pleasure.
Washington Irving
When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.
John Lennon
The Beatles
There are some people that just attract violence to them. No matter where they go, they'll find a fight.
Antony Starr
Maybe it's the buildings, maybe it's the weather, but you can see it affects us - that Scottish gallows humour; our tendency towards bleakness, to look at things in a negative way. Those definitely come out in my writing.
Allan Guthrie
Conservatives divide the world in terms of good and evil while liberals do it in terms of the rich and poor.
Dennis Prager
I would love for Senator Cruz, and everyone creating fear mongering and hatred, to consider creating hope, optimism and love.
Mandy Patinkin
We're not much of a camping family. When I was in Cub Scouts, we went camping once, and my dad snored the whole time and kept me up. It wasn't that fun.
Chandler Riggs
Poetry arises from the desire to get beyond the finite and the historical—the human world of violence and difference—and to reach the transcendent or divine. You're moved to write a poem, you feel called upon to sing, because of that transcendent impulse. But as soon as you move from that impulse to the actual poem, the song of the infinite is compromised by the finitude of its terms.
Ben Lerner
