Quotessence
Home / Authors / Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Edna St. Vincent Millay Quotes

Poet

Filter quotes by topic

AllPoetryHeartLoveMenIfsKnowsLittlesLifeWorldDeathDiesPeopleRainYearsGriefFlowerMy HeartRoseShouldStills

Famous Edna St. Vincent Millay Quotes

“We were so wholly one I had not thought That we could die apart. I had not thought That I could move,—and you be stiff and still! That I could speak,—and you perforce be dumb! I think our heart-strings were, like warp and woof In some firm fabric, woven in and out; Your golden filaments in fair design Across my duller fibre.”

ThinkingHeartStillsMovingDiesSpeakDesignFairsGoldenDumbFirmStringsFabricWovenWarpHeart Strings
Book:The Collected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Create image

“What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning, but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that not again Will turn to me at midnight with a cry. Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before: I cannot say what loves have come and gone, I only know that summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more.”

KnowsHeartLittlesPainTurnsMorningGoneTreeCryArmsMy HeartQuietSummerBirdRainLonelySilentWinterForgottenLipsGlassesGhostTonightMidnightSighLadLonely Trees
Author:Edna St. Vincent Millay
Create image

“The world stands out on either side No wider than the heart is wide; Above the world is stretched the sky, No higher than the soul is high. The heart can push the sea and land Farther away on either hand; The soul can split the sky in two, And let the face of God shine through. But East and West will pinch the heart That can not keep them pushed apart; And he whose soul is flat—the sky Will cave in on him by and by.”

WorldHeartTwoSoulHandsFacesSidesSeaSkyLandHigherShiningWestWideEastFlatsSplitsCan NotStanding OutCavesEast And West
Author:Edna St. Vincent Millay
Create image

“Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! I miss him in the weeping of the rain; I want him at the shrinking of the tide; The old snows melt from every mountain-side, And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane; But last year's bitter loving must remain Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide! There are a hundred places where I fear To go,--so with his memory they brim! And entering with relief some quiet place Where never fell his foot or shone his face I say, 'There is no memory of him here!' And so stand stricken, so remembering him!”

WantYearsHeartDoePainLastsRememberFacesSidesMemoriesFeetMissingMy HeartQuietMountainHundredRainSnowBitterSmokeEaseReliefBitternessYearningTidesLast YearEnteringLiedWeepingLanesWant HimShrinkingNo MemoryQuiet PlaceRemembering Him
Book:Millay: Poems
Create image

“I know I am but summer to your heart, And not the full four seasons of the year; And you must welcome from another part Such noble moods as are not mine, my dear. No gracious weight of golden fruits to sell Have I, nor any wise and wintry thing; And I have loved you all too long and well To carry still the high sweet breast of Spring. Wherefore I say: O love, as summer goes, I must be gone, steal forth with silent drums, That you may hail anew the bird and rose When I come back to you, as summer comes. Else will you seek, at some not distant time, Even your summer in another clime.”

KnowsYearsWellsHeartMayLongStillsGoneWiseFourMinesSweetSummerSpringBirdSeasonsWeightSellsRoseSilentFruitDearNobleMoodStealingGoldenWelcomeBreastsGraciousHailFour Seasons
Book:Millay: Poems
Create image