WIST Quotations

Sarton, May -- “Gestalt at Sixty,” sec. 1 (1972)

Dave — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 17:49:55 +0000

I can tell you that solitude
Is not all exaltation, inner space
Where the soul breathes and work can be done.
Solitude exposes the nerve,
Raises up ghosts.
The past, never at rest, flows through it.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“Gestalt at Sixty,” sec. 1 (1972)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- “Gestalt at Sixty,” sec. 3 (1972)

Dave — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 15:32:19 +0000

I am not ready to die,
But I am learning to trust death
As I have trusted life.
I am moving
Toward a new freedom
Born of detachment,
And a sweeter grace —
Learning to let go.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“Gestalt at Sixty,” sec. 3 (1972)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- “Now Voyager”

Dave — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:18:17 +0000

Where music thundered let the mind be still,
Where the will triumphed let there be no will,
What light revealed, now let the dark fulfill.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“Now Voyager”
(Source)

First published in The Lion and the Rose, Part 3 (1948).

Sarton, May -- “The Invocation to Kali,” Part 5, Poetry (Feb 1971)

Dave — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 16:49:51 +0000

Without darkness, nothing comes to birth,
As without light, nothing flowers.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
“The Invocation to Kali,” Part 5, Poetry (Feb 1971)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- A World of Light, ch. 4 (1976)

Dave — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 15:23:26 +0000

She became for me an island of light, fun, wisdom where I could run with my discoveries and torments and hopes at any time of day and find welcome.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
A World of Light, ch. 4 (1976)
(Source)

Referring to Edith Forbes Kennedy (1890-1942), a long-time mentor and "muse."

Sarton, May -- At Seventy: A Journal, “Wednesday, June 23rd” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 17:48:18 +0000

A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
At Seventy: A Journal, “Wednesday, June 23rd” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- At Seventy (1984)

Dave — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 14:36:58 +0000

In the middle of the night, things well up from the past that are not always cause for rejoicing — the unsolved, the painful encounters, the mistakes, the reasons for shame or woe. But all, good or bad, give me food for thought, food to grow on.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
At Seventy (1984)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Eighty-Two: A Journal (1995)

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

One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Eighty-Two: A Journal (1995)

Sarton, May -- I Knew a Phoenix, “A Belgian School” (1959)

Dave — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 14:10:47 +0000

Words are more powerful than perhaps anyone suspects, and once deeply engraved in a child’s mind, they are not easily eradicated.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
I Knew a Phoenix, “A Belgian School” (1959)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitary, “January 5th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 13:57:07 +0000

At some point I believe one has to stop holding back for fear of alienating some imaginary reader or real relative or friend, and come out with personal truth. If we are to understand the human condition, and if we are to accept ourselves with all the complexity, self-doubt, extravagance of feeling, guilt, joy, the slow freeing of the self to its full capacity for action and creation, both as human being and as artist, we have to know all we can abou each other, and we have to be willing to go naked.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitary, “January 5th” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude (1973)

Dave — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 16:52:54 +0000

There is no doubt that solitude is a challenge and to maintain balance within it a precarious business. But I must not forget that, for me, being with people or even with one beloved person for any length of time without solitude is even worse. I lose my center. I feel dispersed, scattered, in pieces. I must have time alone in which to mull over my encounter, and to extract its juice, its essence, to understand what has really happened to me as a consequence of it.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude (1973)

Dave — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 13:55:10 +0000

When I was writing a column for Family Circle, I had planned one in praise of shabbiness. A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless. It all comes back to the fact that we are not asked to be perfect, only human.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude (1973)

Dave — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 16:10:31 +0000

So everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “February 4th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 14:22:21 +0000

It occurs to me that there is a proper balance between not asking enough of oneself and asking or expecting too much. It may be that I set my sights too high and so repeatedly end a day in depression. Not easy to find the balance, for it one does not have wild dreams of achievement, there is no spur even to get the dishes washed. One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “February 4th” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “February 4th” (1973)

Dave — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 17:08:41 +0000

What is destructive is impatience, haste, expecting too much too fast.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “February 4th” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “May 28th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 18:29:23 +0000

Clutter is what silts up exactly like silt in a flowing stream when the current, the free flow of the mind, is held up by an obstruction. I spent four hours in Keene yesterday getting the car inspected and two new tires put on, also finding a few summer blouses. The mail; has accumulated in a fearful way, so I have a huge disorderly pile of stuff to be answered on my desk. In the end what kills is not agony (for agony at least asks something of the soul) but everyday life.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “May 28th” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “October 6th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 14:12:33 +0000

Does anything in nature despair except man? An animal with a foot caught in a trap does not seem to despair. It is too busy trying to survive. It is all closed in, to a kind of still, intense waiting. Is this a key? Keep busy with survival. Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “October 6th” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “September 15th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 14:21:33 +0000

I feel like an inadequate machine, a machine that breaks down at crucial moments, grinds to a dreadful halt, “won’t go,” or, even worse, explodes in some innocent person’s face.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “September 15th” (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, “September 16th” (1973)

Dave — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 14:17:52 +0000

The more articulate one is, the more dangerous words become.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, “September 16th” (1973)
(Source)

See Howell (1659).

Sarton, May -- Journal of a Solitude, ch. 11 (1973)

Dave — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 21:20:00 +0000

It is good for a professional to be reminded that his professionalism is only a husk, that the real person must remain an amateur, a lover of the work.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Journal of a Solitude, ch. 11 (1973)
(Source)

Sarton, May -- Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Dave — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 05:15:46 +0000

We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Sarton, May -- Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)

Dave — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 14:21:15 +0000

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing (1965)
(Source)

Repeated in an interview with John McNally, Castaway's Choice, KCRW (1 Jul 1988).

Sarton, May -- Interview (1983)

Dave — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 17:27:03 +0000

I feel more alive when I’m writing than I do at any other time — except when I’m making love. Two things when you forget time, when nothing exists except the moment — the moment of the writing, the moment of love. That perfect concentration is bliss.

May Sarton (1912-1995) Belgian-American poet, novelist, memoirist [pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton]
Interview (1983)