Artist Quotes by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“I am waiting for the meek to be blessed and inherit the earth... without taxes”

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

We have to raise the consciousness; the only way poets can change the world is to raise the consciousness of the general populace.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I didn’t know that painters and writers retired. They’re like soldiers – they just fade away.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I certainly was surprised to be named Poet Laureate of this far-out city on the left side of the world, and I gratefully accept,…

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Paperbacks weren't considered real books in the book trade. Up till then it was just murder mysteries, potboilers, 25-cent pocket books sold in newsstands.…

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The real literary editors have mostly been fired. Those that remain are all ottom line editors; everything depends on the money.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“Cast up the heart flops over gasping 'Love' a foolish fish which tries to draw its breath from flesh of air And no one…

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The paintings may communicate even better because people are lazy and they can look at a painting with less effort than they can read…

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Poetry can change the world, just like any art can change the world, by changing consciousness. Of course this was the great slogan of…

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

As I get older I perceive Life has its tail in its mouth.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Almost every truly creative being alienated & expatriated in his own country

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The future of publishing lies with the small and medium-sized presses, because the big publishers in New York are all part of huge conglomerates.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The art has to make it on its own, without explanations, and it’s the same for poetry. If the poem or the painting has…

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti

There is an ecstatic mechanism in birds that makes them fly upwards in spite of worms.

— Lawrence Ferlinghetti