W.B. Yeats
Greatest English-language poet of the 20th century
Most quoted
"Why should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, Or hurled the little streets upon the great, Had they but courage equal to desire?"
— from No Second Troy, 1916
"We are one of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Grattan; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of O'Connell, the people of Charles Stewart Parnell."
— from Speech, 1922
"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."
— from Vacillation, 1933
All quotes by W.B. Yeats (350)
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.
There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.
Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild, With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
I have been in the midst of it, and I have seen it, and I know that it is a terrible thing.
We must not be too much afraid of the past. We must not be too much afraid of the future.
The arts are not a luxury, they are a necessity.
I have always been a man of dreams, and I have always been a man of action.
We should not be content with a mere imitation of life, but should seek to create a new life.
I believe that the imagination is the greatest power in the world.
The Irish Literary Theatre has been founded to produce plays by Irish writers, and to produce them in Ireland.
I have spent my life in trying to find a style that would be natural and passionate.
The greatest thing a man can do is to dream dreams and to make them come true.
I have always held that the greatest poetry is that which is most simple and most profound.
We must learn to love the things that are difficult, and to hate the things that are easy.
I have always believed that the artist is a man who has to create his own world.
The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.
I have always been a lover of beauty, and I have always been a lover of truth.
We must not be afraid to be ourselves, even if it means being different.
The true artist is a man who has to create his own rules.
I have always believed that the greatest art is that which is most human.
Contemporaries of W.B. Yeats
Other Literatures born within 50 years of W.B. Yeats (1865–1939).