A dead poet is better than one that's alive

I don't believe a poet has a better hold on truth or morality than a fiction writer has. And I don't think a fiction…

— Colum McCann

A young poet in America should not be advised at the outset to give up all for the Muse-to seclude himself in the country,…

— Edmund Wilson

“Which was better: being alive (if that was the right word) but not remembering anything, or being dead?”

— Laurie Halse Anderson

I thought, better to get out while I'm still alive.

— George Hamilton

It gets better and you should be alive to see it.

— Anonymous

The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive

— Stanley Kubrick

Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life…

— Henry David Thoreau

You know, one of my favorite movies that inspired me and got me started was 'Dead Poet's Society.'

— Michael Pena

Screamin' 'Carpe Diem!' until I'm a Dead Poet.

— Jay-Z

“I’d Poe’s nude for the approval of a dead poet. No names come to mind, but I’m sure there must be one I’d get…

— Jarod Kintz

Perhaps already I am dead, And these perhaps are phantoms vain;— These motley phantasies that pass At night through my disordered brain. Perhaps with…

— Heinrich Heine

“I have a "carpe diem" mug and, truthfully, at six in the morning the words do not make me want to seize the day.…

— Joanne Sherman

The first time I ever cried in a movie was in Dead Poet's Society.

— John Krasinski

“and a smaller, sad, little-dead-poet sphere with acne scars spins around us lighting the night...”

— N.D. Wilson

“Summer in the trees! “It is time to strangle several bad poets.” / The yellow hobbyhorse rocks to and fro, and from the chimney…

— Kenneth Koch