“No poem is worth anything unless it starts from a poetic trance, out of which you can be wakened by interruption as from a dream. In fact, it is the same thing.”

Fact is not truth, but a poet who wilfully defies fact cannot achieve truth.

Originally marriage meant the sale of a woman by one man to another; now most women sell themselves though they have no intention of delivering the goods listed in the bill of sale.

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 often think that men don’t understand what is noble and what is ignorant, though they always talk about it.

Noblest minds are easiest bent.

Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.

Thus we have given to man a pedigree of prodigious length, but not, it may be said, of noble quality.

The noblest motive is the public good.

Of all ruins, that of a noble mind is the most deplorable.

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.