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)
The world is a dance, and we are all dancing it.
I have been a man of many words, and I have written many books.
The world is a poem, and we are all writing it.
I have been a man of many journeys, and I have seen many lands.
The world is a story, and we are all telling it.
I have been a man of many battles, and I have fought many wars.
The world is a mystery, and we are all trying to solve it.
I have been a man of many questions, and I have found few answers.
The world is a gift, and we are all unwrapping it.
I have been a man of many blessings, and I have known many joys.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.
All things fall and are built again, And those that build them again are gay.
An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing.
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, It's with O'Leary in the grave.
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
In dreams begins responsibility.
How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true.
Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.
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.
Contemporaries of W.B. Yeats
Other Literatures born within 50 years of W.B. Yeats (1865–1939).