Home / Quotes / Quote by May Sarton

Quote by May Sarton

“... the reason why there are so few first-class poets is that many people have intense feelings or first-class minds but to get the two together so that you will be willing to put a poem through sixty drafts, to be that self-critical, to keep breaking it down, that is what is rare. Right now most poetry is just self-indulgence.”

Quote by May Sarton

Author

American poet, born on May 3, 1912, and died on July 16, 1995. Known for her profound psychological insights and delicate portrayals of natural landscapes, May Sarton's poetry has had a significant impact on contemporary poetry, earning her numerous literary awards. more

You May Also Like

“...I feel more alive when I'm writing than I do at any other time--except when I'm making love. Two things when you forget time, when nothing exists except the moment--the moment of writing, the moment of love. That perfect concentration is bliss.”

Feels Writing Two Moments Romance Sex Perfect Forget Alive Bliss Two Things Concentration Making Love Moments Of Love

Author:May Sarton

“I am made to tremble and I fear!”

Author:Pope John XXIII

“There are many ways of discarding [books]. You can give them to friends,--or enemies,--or to associations or to poor Southern libraries. But the surest way is to lend them. Then they never come back to bother you.”

Way Giving Book Friendship Poor Enemy Friends Library Bother Southern Association

Author:Carolyn Wells

“I view askance a book that remains undisturbed for a year. Oughtn't it to have a ticket of leave? I think I may safely say no bookin my library remains unopened a year at a time, except my own works and Tennyson's.”

Thinking Years May Book Reading My Own Views Remains Library Reading Books Tickets Tennyson

Author:Carolyn Wells

“... the subjective viewpoint is the only one to use regarding a library. Your true library is a collection of the books you want.You may have deplorably poor taste or bad judgment. Never mind. Correct those traits before you exchange your books.”

Want Mind May Book Use Reading Poor Taste Judgment Library Collections Reading Books Traits Subjective Book Reading Viewpoints Poor Taste

Author:Carolyn Wells

“I don't care very much for literary shrines and hauntsI knew a woman in London who boasted that she had lodgings from the windows of which she could throw a stone into Carlyle's yard. And when I said, "Why throw a stone into Carlyle's yard?" she looked at me as if I were an imbecile and changed the subject.”

Ifs Said Care Literature Subjects Changed Travel Stones Window Don't Care London I Don't Care Yards Shrines Imbeciles

Author:Carolyn Wells

“... as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the ideal library is in the wish of its maker.”

Eye Wish Ideals Library Makers Beholder Eye Of The Beholder Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

Author:Carolyn Wells

“To take pride in a library kills it. Then, its motive power shifts over to the critical if admiring visitor, and apologies are necessary and acceptable and the fat is in the fire.”

Ifs Fire Pride Library Critical Fats Motive Acceptable Apology Visitors Admiring

Book:The Rest of My Life

Source: The Rest of My Life

“I hate to do what everybody else is doing. Why, only last week, on Fifth Avenue and some cross streets, I noticed that every feminine citizen of these United States wore an artificial posy on her coat or gown. I came home and ripped off every one of the really lovely refrigerator blossoms that were sewn on my own bodices.”

Source: The Rest of My Life

“I'm not a propagandist, I'm not a polemicist; my primary interest is just looking at and trying to understand how animals work.”

Trying Interest Animal Primaries Propagandist

Author:David Attenborough