“Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it. The great general is only terrible to the enemy; the great poet is frequently scolded by his wife; the children of the great statesman clamber about his knees with perfect trust and impunity; the great actor who is called before the curtain by admiring audiences is often waylaid at the stage door by his creditors.” ChildrenActorsPerfectEnemyAudienceWifeDoorsStagePoetTerribleGreat ThingsKneesAweRemoveCurtainsFamiliarityStatesmenGreat ActorsImpunityAdmiringGreat PoetCreditorsScolded Book:Delphi Complete Works of L. Frank Baum (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Complete Works of L. Frank Baum (Illustrated)
“But Thee, but Thee, O sovereign Seer of time, But Thee, O poets' Poet, Wisdom's Tongue, But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love, O perfect life in perfect labor writ, O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest, -- What IF or YET, what mole, what flaw, what lapse, What least defect or shadow of defect, What rumor, tattled by an enemy, Of inference loose, what lack of grace Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's -- Oh, what amiss may I forgive in Thee, Jesus, good Paragon, Thou Crystal Christ?” IfsMenMayJesusChristSleepPerfectEnemyGracePoetKingsShadowLaborForgivingTongueTheeServantTorturePriestsWhat IfFlawsSovereignDefectsRumorCrystalsBest LoveComradeLapsesInferenceSeersMolesPerfect LifeParagon Book:Poems of Sidney Lanier Source: Poems of Sidney Lanier
“This life is a war we are not yet winning for our daughters' children. Don't do your enemies' work for them. Finish your own.” ChildrenWarLife IsPoetryWinningEnemyFeminismPoetDaughterPerseveranceThis LifeOur Daughter Book:Moon Is Always Female Source: Moon Is Always Female
“You need to have a God, a lover, and an enemy, says the poet. Exactly: you need to have three enemies.” NeedsGodThreeEnemyPoetLovers Author:Jose Bergamin
“I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years. We literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet. Nationality and borders are barriers to our intelligence, to our imagination and to all kinds of possibilities.” WritingKindAgeFatherImaginationPartyEnemyPossibilityPoetAll KindsChineseBarriersCommunistForbidden Author:Ai Weiwei