“Even the upper end of the river believes in the ocean.”
Source: The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems
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Famous William Stafford Quotes
Source: Crossing unmarked snow: further views on the writer's vocation
“People wander about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread.”
Source: Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems of William Stafford
“A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.”
Source: Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer's Vocation
Source: The answers are inside the mountains: meditations on the writing life
“A writer is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things.”
Source: Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer's Vocation
“The greatest ownership of all is to glance around and understand.”
Source: Stories that could be true: new and collected poems
Source: Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War
Source: The answers are inside the mountains: meditations on the writing life
Source: Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War
Source: Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems of William Stafford
Source: Writing the Australian Crawl: Views on the Writer's Vocation
Source: You must revise your life
“Once you decide to do right, life is easy, there are no distractions.”
“The signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-/should be clear/the darkness around us is deep.”
Source: Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War
Source: Stories that could be true: new and collected poems
Source: Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War
“When a goat likes a book, the whole book is gone, and the meaning has to go find an author again.”
Source: Crossing unmarked snow: further views on the writer's vocation
Source: The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems
“And the things you know before you hear them; these are you and the reason you are in the world.”
“You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self.”
Source: You must revise your life