---
title: "1 Conviction Existence Quotes By Stanley Kunitz"
description: "1 Conviction Existence quotes by Stanley Kunitz. Plus more from Stanley Kunitz and more Conviction Existence sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/stanley-kunitz-10896_alive_i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify_2604646.jpg"
---

> [I refuse to turn to theology to justify the life or redeem it. There is a question always of the connection to the eternal. I say to myself above all, keep alive your conviction that there are sacred elements in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify-the-life-or-redeem-it-there/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/stanley-kunitz-10896_alive_i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify_2604646.jpg)

## More by Stanley Kunitz

> [The supreme morality of art is to endure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/the-supreme-morality-of-art-is-to-endure/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [“Mind's acres are forever green: Oh, I Shall keep perpetual summer here; I shall Refuse to let one startled swallow die, Or, from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/mind-s-acres-are-forever-green-oh-i-shall-keep-perpetual-summer-here/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [Be what you are. Give What is yours to give. Have Style. Dare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/be-what-you-are-give-what-is-yours-to-give-have-style-dare/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [Not that you need to be a saint to have visions worth talking about. The most effective prescription, I suspect, is to be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/not-that-you-need-to-be-a-saint-to-have-visions-worth-talking-about/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [I can hardly wait for tomorrow, it means a new life for me each and every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/i-can-hardly-wait-for-tomorrow-it-means-a-new-life-for-me-each-and/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [The unconscious creates, the ego edits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/the-unconscious-creates-the-ego-edits/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [I like an ending that's both a door and a window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/i-like-an-ending-that-s-both-a-door-and-a-window/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [One critic wrote . . . that my poems sounded as though they had been translated from the Hungarian. I don't know why, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/one-critic-wrote-that-my-poems-sounded-as-though-they-had-been/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [In every house of marriage there's room for an interpreter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/in-every-house-of-marriage-there-s-room-for-an-interpreter/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [The heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking it is necessary to go through dark and deeper dark and not to turn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/the-heart-breaks-and-breaks-and-lives-by-breaking-it-is-necessary-to/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [A longing for the dance stirs in the buried life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/a-longing-for-the-dance-stirs-in-the-buried-life/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [Poetry is language surprised in the act of changing into meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/poetry-is-language-surprised-in-the-act-of-changing-into-meaning/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [Poetry is the enemy of the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/poetry-is-the-enemy-of-the-poem/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [I dance/for the joy of surviving, at the edge of the road.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/i-dance-for-the-joy-of-surviving-at-the-edge-of-the-road/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

> [We have to learn how to live with our frailties. The best people I know are inadequate and unashamed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/we-have-to-learn-how-to-live-with-our-frailties-the-best-people-i/)

[Stanley Kunitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kunitz/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Conviction Existence Quotes By Stanley Kunitz",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "I refuse to turn to theology to justify the life or redeem it. There is a question always of the connection to the eternal. I say to myself above all, keep alive your conviction that there are sacred elements in the life in the practice of the life that must be respected. But the conviction in the existence of the sacred does not necessarily imply that you need to believe in a creator, because we are the ones that made the sacred.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Stanley Kunitz"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kunitz/i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify-the-life-or-redeem-it-there/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/stanley-kunitz-10896_alive_i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify_2604646.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/stanley-kunitz-10896_alive_i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify_2604646.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/stanley-kunitz-10896_alive_i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify_2604646.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I refuse to turn to theology to justify the life or redeem it. There is a question always of the connection…” — Stanley Kunitz",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/",
            "name": "Conviction Existence Quotes by Stanley Kunitz",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bb8/stanley-kunitz-10896_alive_i-refuse-to-turn-to-theology-to-justify_2604646.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Conviction Existence quotes by Stanley Kunitz. Plus more from Stanley Kunitz and more Conviction Existence sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/#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": "Conviction Existence",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Stanley Kunitz",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conviction-existence/stanley-kunitz/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```