---
title: "1 Eliot Quotes By Ted Kooser"
description: "1 Eliot quotes by Ted Kooser. Plus more from Ted Kooser and more Eliot sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe3/ted-kooser-16216_challenges_every-poet-gets-to-choose-what-kind-of-c_417240.png"
---

> [Every poet gets to choose what kind of community he or she serves with the poems, and it's true that there is a community for very difficult, challenging poetry. It's a community that's established itself over the last 80 years,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/every-poet-gets-to-choose-what-kind-of-community-he-or-she-serves/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe3/ted-kooser-16216_challenges_every-poet-gets-to-choose-what-kind-of-c_417240.png)

## More by Ted Kooser

> [The poem is the device through which the ordinary world is seen in a new way - engaging, compelling, even beautiful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/the-poem-is-the-device-through-which-the-ordinary-world-is-seen-in-a/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [If you can find two poems in a book, it could be a pretty good book for you. You know, two poems you really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/if-you-can-find-two-poems-in-a-book-it-could-be-a-pretty-good-book/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [There's nothing wrong with delighting in what you do. In fact, most of the fun you'll have as a poet will come about during…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/there-s-nothing-wrong-with-delighting-in-what-you-do-in-fact-most-of/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [“Considering the ways in which so many of us waste our time, what would be wrong with a world in which everybody were writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/considering-the-ways-in-which-so-many-of-us-waste-our-time-what-would/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [When she left me I stood out in the thunderstorm, hoping to be destroyed by lightning. It missed, first left, then right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/when-she-left-me-i-stood-out-in-the-thunderstorm-hoping-to-be/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [Every poet gets to choose what kind of community he or she serves with the poems, and it's true that there is a community…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/every-poet-gets-to-choose-what-kind-of-community-he-or-she-serves/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [I had in effect been thrown out of graduate school because I was a lousy graduate student, and I had to find a job,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/i-had-in-effect-been-thrown-out-of-graduate-school-because-i-was-a/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [When I was a kid, I suppose I got more praise for being able to draw things and paint things than I did for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/when-i-was-a-kid-i-suppose-i-got-more-praise-for-being-able-to-draw/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [If I don't take the risk, I'll wind up with a bloodless poem. I have to be out there on the edge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/if-i-don-t-take-the-risk-i-ll-wind-up-with-a-bloodless-poem-i-have-to/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [Keeping a journal is like taking good care of one’s heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/keeping-a-journal-is-like-taking-good-care-of-one-s-heart/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [There's always been what I would call the William Carlos Williams strain, in which poems of simplicity and clarity are valued by a different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/there-s-always-been-what-i-would-call-the-william-carlos-williams/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [I like the poem on the page and not at the podium. I like to address the poem in peace and quiet, not on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/i-like-the-poem-on-the-page-and-not-at-the-podium-i-like-to-address/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [a happy birthday this evening, I sat by an open window and read till the light was gone and the book was no more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/a-happy-birthday-this-evening-i-sat-by-an-open-window-and-read-till/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [Wallace Stevens had more time to write as an insurance agent. He was a bond lawyer and I know that insurance company lawyers don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/wallace-stevens-had-more-time-to-write-as-an-insurance-agent-he-was-a/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

> [I like the idea of there being times when even words cost so much you used them sparingly. I have known a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-kooser/i-like-the-idea-of-there-being-times-when-even-words-cost-so-much-you/)

[Ted Kooser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-kooser/)

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