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Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver Quotes

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Famous Mary Oliver Quotes

“...Sometimes I dream that everything in the world is here, in my room, in a great closet, named and orderly, and I am here too, in front of it, hardly able to see for the flash and the brightness- and sometimes I am that madcap person clapping my hands and singing; and sometimes I am that quiet person down on my knees.”

WorldPersonsSometimesDreamHandsAbleRoomsFrontsQuietSingingKneesFlashClosetsBrightnessOrderlyClappingQuiet Person
Book:Why I Wake Early: New Poems
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“from the complications of loving you i think there is no end or return. no answer, no coming out of it. which is the only way to love, isn't it? this isn't a playground, this is earth, our heaven, for a while. therefore i have given precedence to all my sudden, sullen, dark moods that hold you in the center of my world. and i say to my body: grow thinner still. and i say to my fingers, type me a pretty song. and i say to my heart: rave on.”

ThinkingWorldWayHeartStillsEndsBodyEarthSongGivenHeavenGrowsDarkAnswersTypeReturnMy HeartFingersMoodComing OutLoving YouPlaygroundsComplicationPrecedenceSullenRave
Author:Mary Oliver
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“Praying It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.”

TryingMayTogetherSpeakVoicePayAttentionSilencePrayingStonesBlueThanksPay AttentionWeedContestsPatchesDoorwaysFew WordsVacantIrises
Book:Thirst: Poems
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“I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed, nothing between me and the white fire of the stars but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard the small kingdoms breathing around me, the insects, and the birds who do their work in the darkness. All night I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times into something better.”

IfsLightEarthNightStarsWaterDarkWhitePerfectMorningDarknessFireHeardTreeBedBirdRiversStonesRoseSeedsKingdomsBreathingRememberedBranchesPocketsDozenMy ThoughtsInsectsDoomAll NightSomething BetterSkirtsLuminousMothsArrangingGrappling
Book:Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
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“At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled after a night of rain. I dip my cupped hands. I drink a long time. It tastes like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold into my body, waking the bones. I hear them deep inside me, whispering oh what is that beautiful thing that just happened?”

LongBodyHandsBeautifulNightFallWaterFireHappenedColdDrinkTasteLong TimeRainStonesBonesWakingBeautiful ThingsWhisperingPondsDeep InsideDip
Book:New and Selected Poems, Volume One
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“There are things you can’t reach. But You can reach out to them, and all day long. The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god. And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier. I look; morning to night I am never done with looking. Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around As though with your arms open.”

LooksMeanLongIdeasDoneNightMorningWindArmsBirdStandingBusyFlyingReach OutFly AwayBird Flying
Book:Why I Wake Early: New Poems
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“I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it, like another country; I wanted my life to close, and open like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song where it falls down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery; I wanted to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know, whoever I was, I was alive for a little while.”

KnowsLittlesCountryWantedPastSongFallAliveRocksDiscoveryWingsGoing AwayExplosionsFalling DownHinges
Book:Dream Work
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“On the beach, at dawn: Four small stones clearly Hugging each other. How many kinds of love Might there be in the world, And how many formations might they make And who am I ever To imagine I could know Such a marvelous business? When the sun broke It poured willingly its light Over the stones That did not move, not at all, Just as, to its always generous term, It shed its light on me, My own body that loves, Equally, to hug another body.”

KnowsWorldKindBodyLightMightMovingTermMy OwnSunFourImagineStonesBrokeBeachDawnGenerousHugShedMarvelousFormationKinds Of Love
Book:Swan: Poems and Prose Poems
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“Tom Dancer’s gift of a whitebark pine cone You never know What opportunity Is going to travel to you, Or through you. Once a friend gave me A small pine cone- One of a few He found in the scat Of a grizzly In Utah maybe, Or Wyoming. I took it home And did what I supposed He was sure I would do- I ate it, Thinking How it had traveled Through that rough And holy body. It was crisp and sweet. It was almost a prayer Without words. My gratitude, Tom Dancer, For this gift of the world I adore so much And want to belong to. And thank you too, great bear”

ThinkingKnowsWorldWantHomeBodyFoundOpportunityPrayerSweetBearsGratitudeHolyDancerRoughTomsTraveledAdoreCrispsUtahConesWyomingGrizzlies
Author:Mary Oliver
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“The poet dreams of the classroom I dreamed I stood up in class And I said aloud: Teacher, Why is algebra important? Sit down, he said. Then I dreamed I stood up And I said: Teacher, I’m weary of the turkeys That we have to draw every fall. May I draw a fox instead? Sit down, he said. Then I dreamed I stood up once more and said: Teacher, My heart is falling asleep And it wants to wake up. It needs to be outside. Sit down, he said.”

WantNeedsHeartMaySaidImportantDreamFallClassTeacherPoetMy HeartDrawsWake UpClassroomWearyFoxesTurkeysStood UpAlgebraFalling Asleep
Book:Swan: Poems and Prose Poems
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“The sweetness of dogs (fifteen) What do you say, Percy? I am thinking of sitting out on the sand to watch the moon rise. Full tonight. So we go and the moon rises, so beautiful it makes me shudder, makes me think about time and space, makes me take measure of myself: one iota pondering heaven. Thus we sit, I thinking how grateful I am for the moon’s perfect beauty and also, oh! How rich it is to love the world. Percy, meanwhile, leans against me and gazes up into my face. As though I were his perfect moon.”

ThinkingWorldBeautifulFacesHeavenSpacePerfectWatchesRichDogMoonSittingGratefulSandTonightFifteenSweetnessTime And SpacePonderingPerfect BeautyMoon Rise
Author:Mary Oliver
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“In your hands The dog, the donkey, surely they know They are alive. Who would argue otherwise? But now, after years of consideration, I am getting beyond that. What about the sunflowers? What about The tulips, and the pines? Listen, all you have to do is start and There’ll be no stopping. What about mountains? What about water Slipping over rocks? And speaking of stones, what about The little ones you can Hold in your hands, their heartbeats So secret, so hidden it may take years Before, finally, you hear them?”

KnowsYearsMayLittlesHandsWaterSecretAliveRocksDogMountainStonesArguingConsiderationStoppingHeartbeatSlippingDonkeySunflower
Author:Mary Oliver
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“I had a dog who loved flowers. Briskly she went through the fields, yet paused for the honeysuckle or the rose, her dark head and her wet nose touching the face of every one with its petals of silk with its fragrance rising into the air where the bees, their bodies heavy with pollen hovered - and easily she adored every blossom not in the serious careful way that we choose this blossom or that blossom the way we praise or don't praise - the way we love or don't love - but the way we long to be - that happy in the heaven of earth - that wild, that loving.”

WayLongBodyEarthFacesHeavenDarkAirDogFieldsSeriousFlowerPraiseRoseCarefulHeavyNosesRisingTouchingWetBeesFragranceSilkPetalsPollen
Author:Mary Oliver
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“Mornings at Blackwater" For years, every morning, I drank from Blackwater Pond. It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt, the feet of ducks. And always it assuaged me from the dry bowl of the very far past. What I want to say is that the past is the past, and the present is what your life is, and you are capable of choosing what that will be, darling citizen. So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing, and put your lips to the world. And live your life.”

WorldWantYearsPastLife IsImaginationMorningDoubtFeetCitizensCapableRiversLongingLipsDryNo DoubtDucksEvery MorningBowlsLive Your LifeDarlingDrankHarborsOaksPonds
Book:Red Bird: Poems
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“I do not live happily or comfortably With the cleverness of our times. The talk is all about computers, The news is all about bombs and blood. This morning, in the fresh field, I came upon a hidden nest. It held four warm, speckled eggs. I touched them. Then went away softly, Having felt something more wonderful Than all the electricity of New York City.”

FeltCitiesMorningFourWonderfulBloodNew YorkFieldsComputerNewsWarmOur TimeBombsTouchedEggsNew York CityElectricityNestsCleverness
Book:Evidence: Poems
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“When death comes…. I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what it’s going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, tending, as all music does, toward silence, and each body as a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth. [from the poem "When Death Comes"]”

ThinkingWantLooksDoeIdeasBodyEarthNamesCommonSilenceWonderStepsDarknessDoorsFieldsPossibilityFlowerComfortableMouthsEternityCuriosityLionsBrotherhoodSisterhoodDaisiesCottages
Author:Mary Oliver
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