--- title: "2 American poetry Quotes By Philip Levine" description: "2 American poetry quotes by Philip Levine. Plus more from Philip Levine and more American poetry sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/philip-levine-14083_poetry_poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-sim_1602849.jpg" --- > [“Poetry is like truth: on one level it simply is, and as such it is available to anyone. Anyone, that is, who will spend himself or herself to receive it, for no one has an inherent right to truth. One…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-simply-is-and-as-such-it-is/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/philip-levine-14083_poetry_poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-sim_1602849.jpg) > [I still believe in this country, that it can fulfill the destiny Blake and Whitman envisioned. I still believe in American poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/i-still-believe-in-this-country-that-it-can-fulfill-the-destiny-blake/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d4/philip-levine-14083_america_i-still-believe-in-this-country-that-it_1627303.jpg) ## Other authors on American poetry - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-daisy-fuentes-25962.jpg) Amy King 16 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/amy-king/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-diane-wakoski-29286.jpg) Diane Wakoski 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/diane-wakoski/) ## More by Philip Levine > [I find you in these tears, few, useless and here at last. Don't come back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/i-find-you-in-these-tears-few-useless-and-here-at-last-don-t-come-back/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [I'm afraid we live at the mercy of a power, maybe a God, without mercy. And yet we find it, as I have, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/i-m-afraid-we-live-at-the-mercy-of-a-power-maybe-a-god-without-mercy/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [There'll always be working people in my poems because I grew up with them, and I am a poet of memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/there-ll-always-be-working-people-in-my-poems-because-i-grew-up-with/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [How weightless/ words are when nothing will do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/how-weightless-words-are-when-nothing-will-do/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [But I'm too old to be written about as a young poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/but-i-m-too-old-to-be-written-about-as-a-young-poet/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [But most commonly, it's one poem that I work on with a lot of intensity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/but-most-commonly-it-s-one-poem-that-i-work-on-with-a-lot-of-intensity/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [“He embodied what he worshipped, the exquisite in the commonplace…salt for the spirit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/he-embodied-what-he-worshipped-the-exquisite-in-the-commonplace-salt/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [“As you know, Joyce was a writer who asked his reader to give him a lifetime,” he said. “I am that reader, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/as-you-know-joyce-was-a-writer-who-asked-his-reader-to-give-him-a/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [“Thirty years will pass before I remember that moment when suddenly I knew each man has one brother who dies when he sleeps and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/thirty-years-will-pass-before-i-remember-that-moment-when-suddenly-i/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [“From they sack and they belly opened And all that was hidden burning on the oil-stained earth They feed they Lion and he comes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/from-they-sack-and-they-belly-opened-and-all-that-was-hidden-burning/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [Corruption is subtle, just like the Bible said. Many young poets have come to me and asked, How am I gonna make it? They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/corruption-is-subtle-just-like-the-bible-said-many-young-poets-have/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [“ Our Valley We don't see the ocean, not ever, but in July and August when the worst heat seems to rise from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/our-valley-we-don-t-see-the-ocean-not-ever-but-in-july-and-august/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [“The earth drinks all that’s left of you and asks for more.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/the-earth-drinks-all-that-s-left-of-you-and-asks-for-more/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [I started listening to music when I wrote when I had three sons at home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/i-started-listening-to-music-when-i-wrote-when-i-had-three-sons-at/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) > [Listen to these young poets and you'll discover the voice of the present and hear the voice of the future before the future is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/listen-to-these-young-poets-and-you-ll-discover-the-voice-of-the/) [Philip Levine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-levine/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/#itemlist", "name": "2 American poetry Quotes By Philip Levine", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Poetry is like truth: on one level it simply is, and as such it is available to anyone. Anyone, that is, who will spend himself or herself to receive it, for no one has an inherent right to truth. One must earn it, and one earns the truth by honoring it, by treasuring it in a thousand daily acts, by shaping one’s life to both give it and receive it. The emperors have their treasures, and we have ours. [Larry] Levis said it perfectly when he spoke in the voice of Whitman, which is the voice of American poetry; ‘To find me now will cost you everything.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Levine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-simply-is-and-as-such-it-is/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/philip-levine-14083_poetry_poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-sim_1602849.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/philip-levine-14083_poetry_poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-sim_1602849.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/philip-levine-14083_poetry_poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-sim_1602849.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Poetry is like truth: on one level it simply is, and as such it is available to anyone. Anyone, that is, who…” — Philip Levine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I still believe in this country, that it can fulfill the destiny Blake and Whitman envisioned. I still believe in American poetry.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Philip Levine" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-levine/i-still-believe-in-this-country-that-it-can-fulfill-the-destiny-blake/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d4/philip-levine-14083_america_i-still-believe-in-this-country-that-it_1627303.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d4/philip-levine-14083_america_i-still-believe-in-this-country-that-it_1627303.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d4/philip-levine-14083_america_i-still-believe-in-this-country-that-it_1627303.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I still believe in this country, that it can fulfill the destiny Blake and Whitman envisioned. I still…” — Philip Levine", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/", "name": "American poetry Quotes by Philip Levine", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/philip-levine-14083_poetry_poetry-is-like-truth-on-one-level-it-sim_1602849.jpg" }, "description": "2 American poetry quotes by Philip Levine. Plus more from Philip Levine and more American poetry sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "American Poetry", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Philip Levine", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/philip-levine/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```