W. B. Yeats

Literature Irish 1865 – 1939 97 quotes

An Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature, a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival.

Quotes by W. B. Yeats

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.

Attributed

I have always been a man of the theatre.

Autobiographies 1903

The greatest thing a man can do is to die for his country.

Speech to the Irish Senate 1922

The true artist is a man who has nothing to say.

Ideas of Good and Evil 1903

I have been a man of many sorrows, and I have been a man of many joys.

Speech to the Irish Senate 1922

The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.

Attributed

I have been a man of many dreams, and I have been a man of many failures.

Speech to the Irish Senate 1922

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

Attributed

I have been a man of many loves, and I have been a man of many hates.

Speech to the Irish Senate 1922

The world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

Attributed

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

The Second Coming (poem) 1919

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

The Second Coming (poem) 1919

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

The Lake Isle of Innisfree (poem) 1890

That is no country for old men. The young In one another's arms, birds in the trees,

Sailing to Byzantium (poem) 1926

An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing,

Sailing to Byzantium (poem) 1926

We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Ode (poem) 1889

Do not wait to strike the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

Ideas of Good and Evil (essays) 1903

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

Interview 1930

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.

Essays 1937

In dreams begins responsibility.

Responsibilities (poem collection preface) 1914