---
title: "4 Comprehension Quotes By Jane Hirshfield"
description: "4 Comprehension quotes by Jane Hirshfield. Plus more from Jane Hirshfield and more Comprehension sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59b/jane-hirshfield-2649_chosen_at-some-unnoticed-moment-i-began-to-unde_1341595.jpg"
---

> [At some unnoticed moment, I began to understand that a life is written in indelible ink. What I've chosen, what's happened unchosen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/at-some-unnoticed-moment-i-began-to-understand-that-a-life-is-written-2/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59b/jane-hirshfield-2649_chosen_at-some-unnoticed-moment-i-began-to-unde_1341595.jpg)

> [One reason to write a poem is to flush from the deep thickets of the self some thought, feeling, comprehension, question, music,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/one-reason-to-write-a-poem-is-to-flush-from-the-deep-thickets-of-the/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fb/jane-hirshfield-2649_comprehension_one-reason-to-write-a-poem-is-to-flush-f_1646874.png)

> [At another level, though, poems can craft an eraser - we can't revise the past, but poems allow us some malleability, an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/at-another-level-though-poems-can-craft-an-eraser-we-can-t-revise-the/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a43/jane-hirshfield-2649_choice_at-another-level-though-poems-can-craft_2725596.png)

> [I want to understand the piers of language and music and comprehension that can hold up a building even when what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-want-to-understand-the-piers-of-language-and-music-and/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/jane-hirshfield-2649_building_i-want-to-understand-the-piers-of-langua_3163857.jpg)

## Other authors on Comprehension

## More by Jane Hirshfield

> [I don't have a cell phone (though for years I've kept saying, "soon").](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-don-t-have-a-cell-phone-though-for-years-i-ve-kept-saying-soon/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [I once was asked to contribute to a mushroom poem anthology. I didn't have anything, and so instead ended up writing the introduction. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-once-was-asked-to-contribute-to-a-mushroom-poem-anthology-i-didn-t/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Everything has two endings- a horse, a piece of string, a phone call. Before a life, air. And after. As silence is not silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/everything-has-two-endings-a-horse-a-piece-of-string-a-phone-call/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [A certain amount of housekeeping also goes on in my poems. I wash doorknobs, do dishes, mop floors, patch carpets, cook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/a-certain-amount-of-housekeeping-also-goes-on-in-my-poems-i-wash/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Self carries grief as a pack mule carries the side bags, being careful between the trees to leave extra room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/self-carries-grief-as-a-pack-mule-carries-the-side-bags-being-careful/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [My job as a human being as well as a writer is to feel as thoroughly as possible the experience that I am part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/my-job-as-a-human-being-as-well-as-a-writer-is-to-feel-as-thoroughly/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [I want to preserve a certain unknowing about my own poems - perhaps because unknowing is in itself a useful poetic thirst. To move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-want-to-preserve-a-certain-unknowing-about-my-own-poems-perhaps/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Habit, laziness, and fear conspire to keep us comfortably within the familiar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/habit-laziness-and-fear-conspire-to-keep-us-comfortably-within-the/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [In order to gain anything, you must first lose everything](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/in-order-to-gain-anything-you-must-first-lose-everything/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [The same words come from each mouth differently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-same-words-come-from-each-mouth-differently/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Metaphors think with the imagination and the senses. The hot chili peppers in them explode in the mouth and the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/metaphors-think-with-the-imagination-and-the-senses-the-hot-chili/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Your fate is to be yourself, both punishment and crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/your-fate-is-to-be-yourself-both-punishment-and-crime/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Near even a candle, the visible heat. So it is with a person in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/near-even-a-candle-the-visible-heat-so-it-is-with-a-person-in-love/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [At some point I realized that you don't get a full human life if you try to cut off one end of it, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/at-some-point-i-realized-that-you-don-t-get-a-full-human-life-if-you/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

> [Immensity is always there, but we so often become numb to it, or deceive ourselves into thinking our own lives and selves are what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/immensity-is-always-there-but-we-so-often-become-numb-to-it-or/)

[Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/)

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