WIST Quotations

Ciardi, John -- “New Year’s Eve,” This Strangest Everything (1966)

Dave — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:03:53 +0000

Boys are the cash of war. Whoever said
We’re not free-spenders doesn’t know our likes.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
“New Year’s Eve,” This Strangest Everything (1966)

Ciardi, John -- “Of Time and Chances: A Parental Reverie,” Saturday Review (1972-03-18)

Dave — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 16:35:48 +0000

Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
“Of Time and Chances: A Parental Reverie,” Saturday Review (1972-03-18)
(Source)

Ciardi, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The day will happen whether or not you get up.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
(Attributed)

Ciardi, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
(Attributed)

Ciardi, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 21:57:13 +0000

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
(Attributed)

Ciardi, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 22:04:33 +0000

Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
(Attributed)

Ciardi, John -- (Attributed)

Dave — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 21:03:34 +0000

A man is what he does with his attention.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
(Attributed)

A personal maxim, it is mentioned in multiple contexts.

Ciardi, John -- An Introduction to Literature: How does a poem mean? (1959)

Dave — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 15:59:57 +0000

Every game ever invented by mankind, is a way of making things hard for the fun of it. The great fun, of course, is in making the hard look easy.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
An Introduction to Literature: How does a poem mean? (1959)
(Source)

Ciardi, John -- Manner of Speaking (1972)

Dave — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 19:53:52 +0000

A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place, but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed, toward the hope of greening the landscape of an idea. The difference between a seed and an inert speck can be hard to see, but only one of them will grow and return itself in kind and be multiplied.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
Manner of Speaking (1972)

Ciardi, John -- In Nation (27 Mar 1954)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

But it’s no show just to protect the serious, the solemn, and the high-minded. We must protect the flippant, the zany, the heretical, and the downright queer. The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
In Nation (27 Mar 1954)
(Source)

Ciardi, John -- In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)

Dave — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 16:11:37 +0000

A human being is a deracinated caveman, as a caveman was a deracinated nephew of an ape. Everyone gets to be something by starting as something else — either that or he stays unevolved.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)
(Source)

Ciardi, John -- In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)

Dave — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:43:28 +0000

To be a writer is to accept failure as a profession — which of us is Dante or Shakespeare? — and could they return, wouldn’t they fall at once to revising, knowing they could make the work better? In our own dwarfed way, we are trying for something like perfection, knowing it is unachievable (except of course that trying and failing is a better way of living than not trying).

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)
(Source)

Ciardi, John -- In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)

Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 19:09:40 +0000

It says in the Constitution that we all have a guaranteed right to make fools of ourselves. I have taken every chance to reap the rewards of that guarantee. If forced to action, I mean to fight to defend that right, which includes the right to be wrong, queer, or just kooky. And how can I defend that unless I defend those kooks and queers who think (wrongly, of course) that I am kooky and queer?

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)
(Source)

Ciardi, John -- Translator’s Note (1954) to Dante, The Inferno (1308-1320)

Dave — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:19:22 +0000

When the violin repeats what the piano has just played, it cannot make the same sounds and it can only approximate the same chords. It can, however, make recognizably the same “music,” the same air. But it can do so only when it is as faithful to the self-logic of the violin as it is to the self-logic of the piano.

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
Translator’s Note (1954) to Dante, The Inferno (1308-1320)
(Source)