WIST Quotations

Yeats, William Butler -- “Easter 1916,” st. 4, ll. 57-59, Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)

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

Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“Easter 1916,” st. 4, ll. 57-59, Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)
(Source)

Yeats, William Butler -- “In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz” (1927)

Dave — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 18:22:26 +0000

The innocent and the beautiful
Have no enemy but time.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz” (1927)
(Source)

Yeats, William Butler -- “The Choice” (1933)

Dave — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:47:50 +0000

The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life or of the work.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“The Choice” (1933)
(Source)

Yeats, William Butler -- “The Second Coming,” ll.1-8 (1920)

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

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“The Second Coming,” ll.1-8 (1920)
(Source)

More examination of this quotation: The Best Lack All Conviction While the Worst Are Full of Passionate Intensity – Quote Investigator. See also Russell and Bukowski.

Yeats, William Butler -- “Vacillation,” st. 4 (1932), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)

Dave — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 14:18:18 +0000

Things said or done long years ago,
Or things I did not do or say
But thought that I might say or do,
Weigh me down, and not a day
But something is recalled,
My conscience or my vanity appalled.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“Vacillation,” st. 4 (1932), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
(Source)

Yeats, William Butler -- “The Municipal Gallery Revisited,” l.54–55 (1938)

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

Think where man’s glory most begins and ends,
And say my glory was I had such friends.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
“The Municipal Gallery Revisited,” l.54–55 (1938)

Yeats, William Butler -- (Attributed)

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

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
(Attributed)

Yeats, William Butler -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 12:54:08 +0000

The problem with some people is that when they aren’t drunk, they’re sober.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
(Attributed)

Yeats, William Butler -- Deirdre (1907)

Dave — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:31:32 +0000

I have believed the best of every man,
And find that to believe it is enough
To make a bad man show him at his best,
Or even a good man swing his lantern higher.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
Deirdre (1907)

Yeats, William Butler -- Journal entry #105 (18 Mar 1909)

Dave — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 17:08:05 +0000

The pain others give passes away in their later kindness, but that of our own blunders, especially when they hurt our vanity, never passes away.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
Journal entry #105 (18 Mar 1909)
(Source)

See also "Vacillation."

Yeats, William Butler -- Letter to Katharine Tynan (30 Aug 1888)

Dave — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:43:08 +0000

I hate journalists. There is nothing in them but tittering jeering emptiness. They have all made what Dante calls the Great Refusal, — that is they have ceased to be self-centered, have given up their individuality…. The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Irish poet and dramatist
Letter to Katharine Tynan (30 Aug 1888)