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Robert Bly

Robert Bly Quotes

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Famous Robert Bly Quotes

“All of Japan once a year will get up on their rooftops, because that's the night that the shepherd boy from one side of the Milky Way gets to meet the weaver girl on the other side of the Milky Way. They all get up on their roofs and watch that night. So they long for 365 days and then on the 365th night, they see the result of that longing.”

WayYearsLongNightGirlSidesResultsBoysWatchesLongingGet UpJapanRoofShepherdsMilky WayRooftopsWeavers
Author:Robert Bly
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“The inner boy in a messed-up family may keep on being shamed, invaded, disappointed, and paralyzed for years and years. "I am a victim," he says, over and over; and he is. But that very identification with victimhood keeps the soul house open and available for still more invasions. Most American men today do not have enough awakened or living warriors inside to defend their soul houses. And most people, men or women, do not know what genuine outward or inward warriors would look like, or feel like.”

PeopleKnowsMenFeelsYearsLooksMayStillsSoulEnoughTodayHouseBoysVictimAvailableGenuineWarriorDisappointedInwardInvasionAwakenedIdentificationMessed UpParalyzedVictimhood
Book:Iron John: A Book about Men
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“When anyone seriously pursues an art - painting, poetry, sculpture, composing - over twenty or thirty years, the sustained discipline carries the artist down to the countryside of grief, and that descent, resisted so long proves invigorating. . . . As I've gotten older, I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow and to distinguish it from depression.”

YearsLongArtAbleArtistGriefPaintingDisciplineSorrowProveTwentiesPursueThirtyCarrieSculptureThirty YearsCountrysideComposingDescentInvigorating
Author:Robert Bly
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“One day while studying a Yeats poem I decided to write poetry the rest of my life. I recognized that a single short poem has room for history, music, psychology, religious thought, mood, occult speculation, character, and events of one's own life. I still feel surprised that such various substances can find shelter and nourishment in a poem. A poem in fact may be a sort of nourishing liquid, such as one uses to keep an amoeba alive. If prepared right, a poem can keep an image or a thought or insights on history or the psyche alive for years, as well as our desires and airy impulses.”

IfsFeelsWritingYearsWellsMayStillsCharacterFactsUseDesirePoetryReligiousRoomsStudyPsychologyAliveEventsOne DayDecidedPreparedVariousInsightMoodImpulseSubstanceShelterSpeculationLiquidNourishmentOccultAiryYeatsAmoeba
Author:Robert Bly
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