Out of Ireland have we come, great hatred, little room, maimed us at the start. I carry from my mother's womb a fanatic heart. William Butler Yeats on great
The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth. William Butler Yeats on great
The years like great black oxen tread the world, and God, the herdsman goads them on behind, and I am broken by their passing feet. William Butler Yeats on great
Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing. William Butler Yeats on happiness
Why should we honour those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself. William Butler Yeats on history
You that would judge me, do not judge alone this book or that, come to this hallowed place where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon Ireland's history in their lineaments trace think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was I had such friends. William Butler Yeats on history
Nor dread nor hope attend a dying animal a man awaits his end dreading and hoping all. William Butler Yeats on hope
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind. William Butler Yeats on imagination
I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.' William Butler Yeats on men
I have known more men destroyed by the desire to have wife and child and to keep them in comfort than I have seen destroyed by drink and harlots. William Butler Yeats on men
The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober. William Butler Yeats on men
We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry. William Butler Yeats on poetry
Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. William Butler Yeats on romantic
The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time. William Butler Yeats on time
Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. William Butler Yeats on truth
You know what the Englishman's idea of compromise is? He says, Some people say there is a God. Some people say there is no God. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two statements. William Butler Yeats on truth
I think it better that in times like these a poet's mouth be silent, for in truth we have no gift to set a statesman right. William Butler Yeats on truth
Books are but waste paper unless we spend in action the wisdom we get from thought - asleep. When we are weary of the living, we may repair to the dead, who have nothing of peevishness, pride, or design in their conversation. William Butler Yeats on wisdom
If suffering brings wisdom, I would wish to be less wise. William Butler Yeats on wisdom