Home / Authors / William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats Quotes

Poet

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, and essayist, considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. His poetry deeply reflected the nationalist sentiments of Ireland and also showcased rich imagination and profound philosophical thinking. Yeats' poetic style was versatile, evolving from early romanticism to late symbolism, and his works have had a profound impact on literature both in Ireland and around the world.

Filter quotes by topic

All Men Heart World Life Ifs Eye Dream Knows May Mind Soul Thinking Made Love Hands Long Poetry Wind Art Body

Famous William Butler Yeats Quotes

“Test every work of intellect or faith, And everything that your own hands have wrought And call those works extravagance of breath That are not suited for such men as come Proud, open-eyed and laughing to the tomb.”

Men Hands Laughing Proud Tests Breaths Intellect Tombs Extravagance

Book:Selected Poems And Four Plays

Source: Selected Poems And Four Plays

“All things can tempt me from this craft of verse: One time it was a woman's face, or worse-- The seeming needs of my fool-driven land; Now nothing but comes readier to the hand Than this accustomed toil.”

Needs Hands Faces Poetry Land Youth Poet Fool All Things Driven Crafts Distraction One Time Verses Toil Accustomed Seeming

Book:Poems of William Butler Yeats

Source: Poems of William Butler Yeats

“Poetry and music I have banished, But the stupidity Of root, shoot, blossom or clay Makes no demand. I bend my body to the spade Or grope with a dirty hand.”

Body Hands Poetry Music Poet Demand Musician Roots Stupidity Dirty Clay Spades Poetry And Music Dirty Hands

Book:The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition

Source: The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition

“Pale brows, still hands and dim hair, I had a beautiful friend And dreamed that the old despair Would end in love in the end.”

Stills Ends Hands Beautiful Hope Hair Lovers Despair Pale Brows

Book:The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

“Shakespearean fish swam the sea, far away from land; Romantic fish swam in nets coming to the hand.”

Hands Literature Sea Land Tradition Fishes Heritage Far Away

Book:Selected Poems And Four Plays

Source: Selected Poems And Four Plays

“The Danaan children laugh, in cradles of wrought gold, And clap their hands together, and half close their eyes, For they will ride the North when the ger-eagle flies, With heavy whitening wings, and a heart fallen cold.”

Heart Children Hands Eye Together Half Laughing Cold Gold Wings Heavy Fallen Eagles Cradle Hands Together Whitening

Book:Early Poems

Source: Early Poems

“On the grey rock of Cashel I suddenly saw A Sphinx with woman breast and lion paw, A Buddha, hand at rest, Hand lifted up that blest; And right between these two a girl at play That, it may be, had danced her life away.”

May Two Play Hands Girl Saws Rocks Breasts Lions Grey Paws Sphinx

Book:COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS

Source: COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS

“Test every work of intellect or faith and everything that your own hands have wrought.”

Hands Tests Intellect Extravagance

Book:Selected Poems And Four Plays

Source: Selected Poems And Four Plays

“Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.”

World Humans Children Hands Water Fairy Artificial Intelligence Weeping Hand In Hand Faerie Empty Souls

Book:Fairy Folk Tales of Ireland

Source: Fairy Folk Tales of Ireland

“An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing for every tatter in its mortal dress.”

Men Soul Hands Dresses Sticks Mortals Coats Elderly Growing Old Demise

Author:William Butler Yeats

“Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.”

Long Done Hands Walks Sun Gone Land Moon Kissing Lips Golden Wander Grass Apples Silver Hollow Pluck

Author:William Butler Yeats

“I bring you with reverent hands The books of my numberless dreams.”

Book Dream Hands

Book:COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS

Source: COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS

“Where the wave of moonlight glosses The dim gray sands with light, Far off by furthest Rosses We foot it all the night, Weaving olden dances, Mingling hands and mingling glances Till the moon has taken flight; To and fro we leap And chase the frothy bubbles, While the world is full of troubles And is anxious in its sleep. . . .”

World Hands Light Night Sleep Taken Trouble Feet Moon Wave Flight Sand Leap Gray Anxious Bubbles Glances Moonlight Weaving Gloss Mingling

Book:The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats

Source: The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats

“Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree; But I, being young and foolish, with her did not agree. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.”

Littles Hands Young Grows Easy White Tree Feet Fields Tears Garden Rivers Agree Foolish Shoulders Snow Grass Snow White

Author:William Butler Yeats

“We have fallen in the dreams the ever-living Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world, And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh.”

World Dream Hands Mirrors Breathe Fallen Smooth Sigh Ivory

Author:William Butler Yeats

“but one loses, as one grows older, something of the lightness of one's dreams; one begins to take life up in both hands, and to care more for the fruit than the flower, and that is no great loss perhaps.”

Dream Hands Care Grows Loses Loss Flower Aging Fruit Retirement Lightness Funny Retirement Great Loss

Book:When You Are Old: Early Poems, Plays, and Fairy Tales

Source: When You Are Old: Early Poems, Plays, and Fairy Tales

“Sometimes my feet are tired and my hands are quiet, but there is no quiet in my heart.”

Heart Sometimes Hands Feet My Heart Quiet Tired

Book:The Major Works

Source: The Major Works

“This great purple butterfly, In the prison of my hands, Has a learning in his eye Not a poor fool understands.”

Hands Eye Poor Fool Garden Prison His Eyes Butterfly Insects Purple Monarch Butterfly

Book:The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

“We have lit upon the gentle, sensitive mind And lost the old nonchalance of the hand; Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush, We are but critics, or but half create.”

Mind Hands Lost Half Losing Critics Chosen Gentle Sensitive Pens Brushes Lit Chisels Nonchalance

Book:Selected Poems And Four Plays

Source: Selected Poems And Four Plays

“Mock mockers after that That would not lift a hand maybe To help good, wise or great To bar that foul storm out, for we Traffic in mockery.”

Helping Hands Wise Storm Bars Lifts Traffic Foul Mockery Mock Good Wise

Book:The Major Works

Source: The Major Works

“Whence had they come The hand and lash that beat down frigid Rome? What sacred drama through her body heaved When world-transforming Charlemagne was conceived?”

World Body Hands Drama Beats Sacred Rome Transforming Lashes Frigid

Book:The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats

“I would have touched it like a child But knew my finger could but have touched Cold stone and water. I grew wild, Even accusing heaven because It had set down among its laws: Nothing that we love over-much Is ponderable to our touch.”

Children Feelings Hands Law Heaven Water Grew Cold Stones Fingers Touched Touching Accusing

Book:Later Poems

Source: Later Poems

About the Author

Born: June 13, 1865
Died: January 28, 1939
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 615

Related Topics

Men Heart World Life Ifs Eye Dream Knows May Mind Soul Thinking Made Love Hands Long Poetry Wind Art Body

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

The Collected Poems of W. B. YeatsRelated source material

The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd EditionRelated source material

The Major WorksRelated source material

Poems of William Butler YeatsRelated source material

Later PoemsRelated source material

Selected Poems And Four PlaysRelated source material

When You Are Old: Early Poems, Plays, and Fairy TalesRelated source material

COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATSRelated source material

The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume IV: Early EssaysRelated source material

The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol II: The PlaysRelated source material

Similar Authors

Johann Wolfgang von GoetheBrowse related quotes
Alfred Lord TennysonBrowse related quotes
Ralph Waldo EmersonBrowse related quotes
Mehmet Murat IldanBrowse related quotes
Thomas CarlyleBrowse related quotes
Khalil GibranBrowse related quotes
William WordsworthBrowse related quotes
Friedrich SchillerBrowse related quotes
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeBrowse related quotes
Victor HugoBrowse related quotes