“I made no more protests. What was the use of struggling against fate”

The decline of true taste for food is the beginning of a decline in a national culture as a whole. When people have lost their authentic personal taste, they lose their personality and become the instruments of other people’s wills.

The gas-cylinders had by this time been put into position on the front line. A special order came round imposing severe penalties on anyone who used any word but “accessory” in speaking of the gas. This was to keep it secret, but the French civilians knew all about the scheme long before this.

Patriotism, in the trenches, was too remote a sentiment, and at once rejected as fit only for civilians, or prisoners. A new arrival who talked patriotism would soon be told to cut it out.

For words of rapture groping, they”Never such love,” swore “ever before was!”

As was the custom in such cases, the pear tree was charged with murder and sentenced to be uprooted and burned.

Love at first sight’some say misnaming Discovery of twinned helplessness Against the huge tug of procreation. But friendship at first sight? This also Catches fiercely at the surprised heart So that the cheek blanches then blushes.

Lovers to-day and for all time Preserve the meaning of my rhyme: Love is not kindly nor yet grim But does to you as you to him.

To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession.

But give thanks, at least, that you still have Frost’s poems; and when you feel the need of solitude, retreat to the companionship of moon, water, hills and trees. Retreat, he reminds us, should not be confused with escape. And take these poems along for good luck!

She tells her love while half asleep, In the dark hours, With half-words whispered low: As Earth stirs in her winter sleep And puts out grass and flowers Despite the snow, Despite the falling snow.

I was thinking, “So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I’ll be able to make people read my books now.

A perfect poem is impossible. Once it had been written, the world would end. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.

Marriage, like money, is still with us; and, like money, progressively devalued.

As you are woman, so be lovely: As you are lovely, so be various, Merciful as constant, constant as various, So be mine, as I yours for ever.

I was thinking, “So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I’ll be able to make people read my books now.

Nine-tenths of English poetic literature is the result either of vulgar careerism or of a poet trying to keep his hand in. Most poets are dead by their late twenties.

I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.

Those who care for the little ones are on God’s side and defeat the culture of waste.

No one chooses which culture to be born into or can be blamed for how that culture evolved in past centuries.

A culture is not the anonymous product of undifferentiate d masses, but the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men.

A sign of a culture that has lost its faith – Moral collapse follows upon spiritual collapse.

Charity, especially towards the vulnerable, is the best opportunity we have to keep working to build up a culture of encounter.

Create the kind of workplace and company culture that will attract great talent. If you hire brilliant people, they will make work feel more like play.

Cultures aren’t so much planned as they evolve from that early set of people.