Poetry is the art of overhearing ourselves say things from which it is impossible to retreat. — David Whyte Copy Share Image
Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. — David Whyte Copy Share Image
“The poet lives and writes at the frontier between deep internal experience and the revelations of the outer world. There is no going back… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
I returned to poetry as a more precise way to describe the world, more precise than science. — David Whyte Copy Share Image
What if the world is holding its breath - waiting for you to take the place that only you can fill? — David Whyte Copy Share Image
“It is not the thing you fear that you must deal with, it is the mother of the thing you fear. The very thing… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
Heartbreak is our indication of sincerity: in a love relationship, in a work, in trying to learn a musical instrument, in the attempt to… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
The frail, vulnerable sounds of which we are capable seem to be essential to a later ability to roar like a lion without scaring… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
A good poem has its own life. It's like bringing a child into the world. You, the poet, birthed the child, but the child… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
“Work, like marriage, is a place you can lose yourself more easily perhaps than finding yourself. It is a place full of powerful undercurrents,… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
The moment you’ve uttered the exact dimensionality of your exile, you’re already turning towards home. — David Whyte Copy Share Image
“...wanting soul life without the dark, warming intelligence of personal doubt is like expecting an egg without the brooding heat of the mother hen.” — David Whyte Copy Share Image
It's my contention that there is no sincere path a human being can take without breaking his or her heart...so it can be a… — David Whyte Copy Share Image
