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William Butler Yeats

William Butler Yeats Quotes

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Famous William Butler Yeats Quotes

“A sea captain when he stands upon the bridge, or looks out from his deck-house, thinks much about God and about the world. Away in the valley yonder among the corn and the poppies men may well forget all things except the warmth of the sun upon the face, and the kind shadow under the hedge; but he who journeys through storm and darkness must needs think and think.”

ThinkingMenWorldNeedsWellsLooksKindMayFacesHouseForgetDarknessSunJourneySeaShadowAll ThingsStormBridgesWarmthValleysCaptainsSailingCornDeckPoppiesSailing And The SeaWarmth Of The Sun
Book:The Celtic Twilight
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“Brown Penny I WHISPERED, 'I am too young,' And then, 'I am old enough'; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. 'Go and love, go and love, young man, If the lady be young and fair.' Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, I am looped in the loops of her hair. O love is the crooked thing, There is nobody wise enough To find out all that is in it, For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon. Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, One cannot begin it too soon.”

IfsThinkingMenEnoughMightWould BeRunningYoungStarsLove IsWiseHairMoonShadowFairsAnd LoveYoung ManBrownRunning AwayPenniesCrookedLoopsBe Young
Book:Collected Poems
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“Never give all the heart, for love Will hardly seem worth thinking of To passionate women if it seem Certain, and they never dream That it fades out from kiss to kiss; For everything that's lovely is But a brief, dreamy, kind delight. O Never give the heart outright, For they, for all smooth lips can say, Have given their hearts up to the play. And who could play it well enough If deaf and dumb and blind with love? He that made this knows all the cost, For he gave all his heart and lost.”

IfsThinkingKnowsGivingWellsHeartKindMadeEnoughPlayDreamSeemsCertainLostGivenCostKissingBlindLipsPassionateDelightLovelyDumbFadesSmoothDeafDreamyDeaf And DumbPassionate Woman
Book:The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats
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“THOUGH you are in your shining days, Voices among the crowd And new friends busy with your praise, Be not unkind or proud, But think about old friends the most: Time's bitter flood will rise, Your beauty perish and be lost For all eyes but these eyes.”

ThinkingEyeLostVoiceProudPraiseShiningBusyCrowdsBitterFloodOld FriendsUnkindNew FriendsThese Eyes
Book:The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats: Volume I: The Poems, 2nd Edition
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“Before The World Was Made If I make the lashes dark and the eyes more bright and the lips more scarlet, or ask if all be right from mirror after mirror, no vanity's displayed: I'm looking for the face I had before the world was made. What if I look upon a man as though on my beloved, and my blood be cold the while and my heart unmoved? Why should he think me cruel or that he is betrayed? I'd have him love the thing that was before the world was made.”

IfsThinkingMenWorldShouldLooksHeartMadeEyeFacesAsksDarkBloodColdMy HeartMirrorsLipsVanityBelovedWhat IfBetrayedLashesScarlet
Author:William Butler Yeats
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“Now as to magic. It is surely absurd to hold me "weak" or otherwise because I choose to persist in a study which I decided deliberately four or five years ago to make, next to my poetry, the most important pursuit of my life...If I had not made magic my constant study I could not have written a single word of my Blake book, nor would The Countess Kathleen have ever come to exist. The mystical life is the center of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.”

IfsThinkingWritingYearsMadeImportantBookLife IsNextStudyFiveFourWrittenMagicYears AgoWeakDecidedConstantPursuitAbsurdFive YearsPersistMysticalHold MeBlakeSingle Word
Author:William Butler Yeats
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“When I think of all the books I have read, and of the wise words I have heard spoken, and of the anxiety I have given to parents and grandparents, and of the hopes that I have had, all life weighed in the scales of my own life seems to me a preparation for something that never happens.”

ThinkingBookSeemsHappensGivenParentMy OwnWiseHeardWise WordsAnxietyScalesPreparationGrandparentMy Own LifeParents And Grandparents
Book:The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol. III: Autobiogra
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