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Famous Mary Oliver Quotes

“And now my old dog is dead, and another I had after him, and my parents are dead, and that first world, that old house, is sold and lost, and the books I gathered there lost, or sold- but more books bought, and in another place, board by board and stone by stone, like a house, a true life built, and all because I was steadfast about one or two things: loving foxes, and poems, the blank piece of paper, and my own energy- and mostly the shimmering shoulders of the world that shrug carelessly over the fate of any individual that they may, the better, keep the Niles and Amazons flowing.”

WorldFirstsMayTwoBookHouseIndividualEnergyLostParentMy OwnPiecesFateDogPaperBuiltStonesShouldersBoardsTwo ThingsBlankFoxesSteadfastTrue LifeOld DogOld Houses
Book:Upstream: Selected Essays
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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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“LITTLE DOGS RHAPSODY IN THE NIGHT (PERCY THREE) He puts his cheek against mine and makes small, expressive sounds. And when I'm awake, or awake enough he turns upside down, his four paws in the air and his eyes dark and fervent. Tell me you love me, he says. Tell me again. Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over he gets to ask it. I get to tell.”

LittlesEnoughEyeNightTurnsThreeAsksSoundDarkFourAirDogMinesAwakeHis EyesCheeksArrangementsUpside DownExpressivePawsFerventTell Me You Love Me
Book:Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
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“Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born. What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs?”

WorldShouldWellsReasonBornStreetsDogThis WorldHonorRiversGreenGrassReason WhyJoyfulnessWithout MusicSmall Gifts
Book:Dog Songs: Deluxe Edition
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