Author: Mary Oliver

Quotes

Wasn't it Emerson who said, 'My life is for itself and not for a spectacle'? I have a happy, full, good life because I hold it private.

Wasn't it Emerson who said, 'My life is for itself and not for a spectacle'? I have a happy, full, good life because I hold it private.

- Mary Oliver

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver

Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.

Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.

- Mary Oliver

To tell you the truth, I believe everything - tigers, trees, stones - are sentient in one way or another. You'd never catch me idly kicking a stone, for example.

To tell you the truth, I believe everything - tigers, trees, stones - are sentient in one way or another. You'd never catch me idly kicking a stone, for example.

- Mary Oliver

Walks work for me. I enter some arena that is neither conscious or unconscious.

Walks work for me. I enter some arena that is neither conscious or unconscious.

- Mary Oliver

Instead of taking the reader by the hand and running him down the hill, I want to lead him into a house of many rooms, and leave him alone in each of them.

Instead of taking the reader by the hand and running him down the hill, I want to lead him into a house of many rooms, and leave him alone in each of them.

- Mary Oliver

When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

- Mary Oliver

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

- Mary Oliver

I have a notebook with me all the time, and I begin scribbling a few words. When things are going well, the walk does not get anywhere; I finally just stop and write.

I have a notebook with me all the time, and I begin scribbling a few words. When things are going well, the walk does not get anywhere; I finally just stop and write.

- Mary Oliver

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