Poetry quotes

A poem is never finished, only abandoned.

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.

Always be a poet, even in prose.

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.

To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.

Poetry is all that is worth remembering in life.

A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.

The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose.

I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.

Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.