"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain."
"That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet."
"Morning without you is a dwindled dawn."
"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?"
"Forever is composed of nows."
"I dwell in possibility..."
"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."
"Saying nothing sometimes says the most."
"Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell."
"This is my letter to the world<br />
That never wrote to me."
"Nature is a haunted house - but Art - is a house that tries to be haunted."
"Pardon my sanity in a world insane."
"I'm Nobody! Who are you?<br />
Are you - Nobody - too?<br />
Then there's a pair of us?<br />
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!<br />
<br />
How dreary - to be - Somebody!<br />
How public - like a Frog -<br />
To tell one's name - the livelong June -<br />
To an admiring Bog!"
"A word is dead when it's been said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day."
"Beauty is not caused. It is."
"There is no Frigate like a book<br />
To take us Lands away,<br />
Nor any Coursers like a Page<br />
Of prancing Poetry..."
"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."
"Because I could not stop for Death -<br />
He kindly stopped for me -<br />
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -<br />
And Immortality."
"Bring me the sunset in a cup."
"How happy is the little stone<br />
That rambles in the road alone,<br />
And doesn't care about careers,<br />
And exigencies never fears;<br />
Whose coat of elemental brown<br />
A passing universe put on;<br />
And independent as the sun,<br />
Associates or glows alone,<br />
Fulfilling absolute decree<br />
In casual simplicity."
"Truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it."
"I don't profess to be profound; but I do lay claim to common sense."
"Now there's a word to lift your hat to...to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that's the genius behind poetry."
"The dearest ones of time, the strongest friends of the soul-books."
"We outgrow love like other things and put it in a drawer, till it an antique fashion shows like costumes grandsires wore."
"We turn not older with years but newer every day."
"Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them."
"That I shall love always,<br />
I argue thee<br />
That love is life,<br />
And life hath immortality."
"Life is a spell so exquisite that everything conspires to break it."
"We never know how high we are till we are called to rise. Then if we are true to form our statures touch the skies."
"I felt it shelter to speak to you."
"The lovely flowers<br />
Embarrass me.<br />
They make me regret<br />
I am not a bee..."
"I died for beauty but was scarce<br />
Adjusted in the tomb,<br />
When one who died for truth was lain<br />
In an adjoining room.<br />
<br />
He questioned softly why I failed?<br />
'For beauty,' I replied.<br />
'And I for truth, the two are one;<br />
We brethren are,' he said.<br />
<br />
And so, as kinsmen met a night,<br />
We talked between the rooms,<br />
Until the moss had reached our lips,<br />
And covered up our names."
"One need not be a chamber to be haunted."
"A little Madness in the Spring Is wholesome even for the King."
"I can wade Grief -<br />
Whole Pools of it -<br />
I'm used to that -<br />
But the least push of Joy<br />
Breaks up my feet -<br />
And I tip - drunken -<br />
Let no Pebble - smile -<br />
'Twas the New Liquor -<br />
That was all!"
"But a Book is only the Heart's Portrai - every Page a Pulse."
"He ate and drank the precious words,<br />
His spirit grew robust;<br />
He knew no more that he was poor,<br />
Nor that his frame was dust.<br />
He danced along the dingy days,<br />
And this bequest of wings<br />
Was but a book. What liberty<br />
A loosened spirit brings!"
"Till I loved I never lived."
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door."
"Heart, we will forget him,<br />
You and I, tonight!<br />
You must forget the warmth he gave,<br />
I will forget the light."
"I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine."
"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these."
"An ear can break a human heart<br />
As quickly as a spear,<br />
We wish the ear had not a heart<br />
So dangerously near."
"How do most people live without any thought? There are many people in the world,-you must have noticed them in the street,-how do they live? How do they get strength to put on their clothes in the morning?"
"Judge tenderly of me."
"I measure every Grief I meet<br />
With narrow, probing, Eyes;<br />
I wonder if It weighs like Mine,<br />
Or has an Easier size.<br />
<br />
I wonder if They bore it long,<br />
Or did it just begin?<br />
I could not tell the Date of Mine,<br />
It feels so old a pain.<br />
<br />
I wonder if it hurts to live,<br />
And if They have to try,<br />
And whether, could They choose between,<br />
It would not be, to die.<br />
<br />
I note that Some -<br />
gone patient long -<br />
At length, renew their smile.<br />
An imitation of a Light<br />
That has so little Oil.<br />
<br />
I wonder if when Years have piled,<br />
Some Thousands - on the Harm<br />
Of early hurt - if such a lapse<br />
Could give them any Balm;<br />
<br />
Or would they go on aching still<br />
Through Centuries above,<br />
Enlightened to a larger Pain<br />
By Contrast with the Love.<br />
<br />
The Grieved are many,<br />
I am told;<br />
The reason deeper lies, -<br />
Death is but one<br />
and comes but once,<br />
And only nails the eyes.<br />
<br />
There's Grief of Want<br />
and Grief of Cold, -<br />
A sort they call 'Despair';<br />
There's Banishment from native Eyes,<br />
In sight of Native Air.<br />
<br />
And though I may not guess the kind<br />
Correctly, yet to me<br />
A piercing Comfort it affords<br />
In passing Calvary,<br />
<br />
To note the fashions of the Cross,<br />
And how they're mostly worn,<br />
Still fascinated to presume<br />
That Some are like My Own."
"My love for those I love - not many - not very many, but don't I love them so?"
"Tell all the Truth but tell it slant -<br />
Success in Cirrcuit lies<br />
Too bright for our infirm Delight<br />
The Truth's superb surprise<br />
As Lightening to the Children eased<br />
With explanation kind<br />
The Truth must dazzle gradually<br />
Or every man be blind."
"Those who have not found the heaven below,<br />
Will fail of it above."
"They say that God is everywhere and yet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse."
"Much Madness is divinest Sense -<br />
To a discerning Eye -<br />
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -<br />
'Tis the Majority<br />
In this, as All, prevail -<br />
Assent - and you are sane -<br />
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -<br />
And handled with a Chain."
"I'll tell you how the sun rose, a ribbon at a time.<br />
The steeples swam in amethyst,<br />
The news like squirrels ran.<br />
The hills untied their bonnets,<br />
The bobolinks begun.<br />
Then I said softly to myself,<br />
"That must have been the sun!"
"My friends are my estate."
"Love is its own rescue; for we, at our supremest, are but its trembling emblems."
"They say that 'home is where the heart is.' I think it is where the house is, and the adjacent buildings."
"A wounded dear leaps the highest"
"The brain is wider than the sky,<br />
For, put them side by side,<br />
The one the other will include<br />
With ease, and you beside."
"If you were coming in the fall,<br />
I'd brush the summer by,<br />
With half a smile and half a spurn,<br />
As housewives do a fly.<br />
<br />
If I could see you in a year,<br />
I'd wind the months in balls,<br />
And put them each in separate drawers,<br />
Until their time befalls."
"Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes."
"Faith is a fine invention<br />
When gentlemen can see,<br />
But microscopes are prudent<br />
In an emergency."
"To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,<br />
One clover, and a bee,<br />
And revery.<br />
The revery alone will do,<br />
If bees are few."
"The possible's slow fuse is lit by the Imagination."
"She died - this was the way she died;<br />
And when her breath was done,<br />
Took up her simple wardrobe<br />
And started for the sun.<br />
Her little figure at the gate<br />
The angels must have spied,<br />
Since I could never find her<br />
Upon the mortal side."
"I felt a Cleaving in my Mind -<br />
As if my Brain had split -<br />
I tried to match it - Seam by Seam -<br />
But could not make it fit."
"I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven."
"Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned."
"It was not death, for I stood up,<br />
And all the dead lie down;<br />
It was not night, for all the bells<br />
Put out their tongues, for noon.<br />
<br />
It was not frost, for on my flesh<br />
I felt siroccos crawl,<br />
Nor fire, for just my marble feet<br />
Could keep a chancel cool.<br />
<br />
And yet it tasted like them all;<br />
The figures I have seen<br />
Set orderly, for burial,<br />
Reminded me of mine,<br />
<br />
As if my life were shaven<br />
And fitted to a frame,<br />
And could not breathe without a key;<br />
And I was like midnight, some,<br />
<br />
When everything that ticked has stopped,<br />
And space stares, all around,<br />
Or grisly frosts, first autumn morns,<br />
Repeal the beating ground.<br />
<br />
But most like chaos,- stopless, cool,<br />
Without a chance or spar,-<br />
Or even a report of land<br />
To justify despair."
"I must go in, the fog is rising."
"Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate. "
"You ask of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog as large as myself."
"My business is circumference."
"Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent."
"Some keep the Sabbath going to church, I keep it staying at home, with a bobolink for a chorister, and an orchard for a dome."
"Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath."
"Till it has loved, no man or woman can become itself."
"People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles."
"Dying is a wild night and a new road."
"In this short life<br />
That only lasts an hour<br />
How much - how little - is<br />
Within our power."
"Anger as soon as fed is dead -<br />
'Tis starving makes it fat. "
"I cannot live with you,<br />
It would be life,<br />
And life is over there<br />
Behind the shelf "
"Old age comes on suddenly, and not gradually as is thought."
"The truth I do not dare to know I muffle with a jest."
"There's a certain slant of light,<br />
On winter afternoons,<br />
That oppresses, like the weight<br />
Of cathedral tunes."
"How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!"
"Till I loved I never liked enough."
"I lost a world the other day. Has anybody found? You'll know it by the rows of stars around it's forehead bound. A rich man might not notice it; yet to my frugal eye of more esteem than ducats. Oh! Find it, sir, for me!"
"A soft Sea washed around the House<br />
A Sea of Summer Air<br />
And rose and fell the magic Planks<br />
That sailed without a care -<br />
For Captain was the Butterfly<br />
For Helmsman was the Bee<br />
And an entire universe<br />
For the delighted crew."
"I had been hungry all the years -<br />
My noon had come, to dine -<br />
I, trembling, drew the table near<br />
And touched the curious wine.<br />
<br />
'Twas this on tables I had seen<br />
When turning, hungry, lone,<br />
I looked in windows, for the wealth<br />
I could not hope to own.<br />
<br />
I did not know the ample bread,<br />
'Twas so unlike the crumb<br />
The birds and I had often shared<br />
In Nature's diningroom.<br />
<br />
The plenty hurt me, 'twas so new, -<br />
Myself felt ill and odd,<br />
As berry of a mountain bush<br />
Transplanted to the road.<br />
<br />
Nor was I hungry; so I found<br />
That hunger was a way<br />
Of persons outside windows,<br />
The entering takes away."
"Success is counted sweetest<br />
To those ne'er succeed<br />
<br />
The comprehend a nectar<br />
Requires sorest need."
"Faith-is the Pierless Bridge<br />
Supporting what We see<br />
Unto the Scene that We do not -<br />
Too slender for the eye<br />
It bears the Soul as bold<br />
As it were rocked in Steel<br />
With Arms of Steel at either side -<br />
It joins-behind the Veil<br />
To what, could We presume<br />
The Bridge would cease to be<br />
To Our far, vacillating Feet<br />
A first Necessity."
"To see her is a picture -<br />
To hear her is a tune -<br />
To know her an Intemperance<br />
As innocent as June -<br />
To know her not-Affliction -<br />
To own her for a Friend<br />
A warmth as near as if the the Sun<br />
Were shining in your Hand."
"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. Espousing the former is not defending the latter."
"Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon."
"The bustle in a house<br />
The morning after death<br />
Is solemnest of industries<br />
Enacted upon earth,-<br />
The sweeping up the heart,<br />
And putting love away<br />
We shall not want to use again<br />
Until eternity."
"Inebriate of air am I,<br />
And debauchee of dew,<br />
Reeling, through endless summer days,<br />
From inns of molten blue."
"Opinion is a fitting thing but truth outlasts the sun - if then we cannot own them both, possess the oldest one."
"I took my Power in my Hand -<br />
And went against the World -<br />
'Twas not so much as David - had -<br />
But I - was twice as bold -<br />
<br />
I aimed by Pebble - but Myself<br />
Was all the one that fell -<br />
Was it Goliath - was too large -<br />
Or was myself - too small?"
"Exultation is the going<br />
Of an inland soul to sea<br />
Past the houses, past the headlands<br />
Into deep eternity!<br />
Bred as we, among the mountains<br />
Can the sailor understand<br />
The divine intoxication<br />
Of the first league out from land?"
"Mine Enemy is growing old -<br />
I have at last Revenge -<br />
The Palate of the Hate departs -<br />
If any would avenge<br />
<br />
Let him be quick - the Viand flits -<br />
It is a faded Meat -<br />
Anger as soon as fed is dead -<br />
'Tis starving makes it fat"
"You cannot put a fire out!<br />
A thing that can ignite can go itself -<br />
without a flame -<br />
E'en through the darkest night!"
"Existence has overpowered Books. Today I slew a Mushroom."
"Memory is a strange Bell-Jubilee, and Knell."
"I work to drive the awe away, yet awe impels the work."
"I SEE thee better in the dark,<br />
I do not need a light.<br />
The love of thee a prism be<br />
Excelling violet.<br />
<br />
I see thee better for the years<br />
That hunch themselves between,<br />
The miner’s lamp sufficient be<br />
To nullify the mine.<br />
<br />
And in the grave I see thee best -<br />
Its little panels be<br />
A-glow, all ruddy with the light<br />
I held so high for thee!<br />
<br />
What need of day to those whose dark<br />
Hath so surpassing sun,<br />
It seem it be continually<br />
At the meridian?"
"Mirth is the Mail of Anguish."
Emily Dickinson