To read a poem with no thought in mind but to paraphrase it into a single, simple and usually high-minded prose statement is the destruction of poetry. — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
Tell me how much a nation knows about its own language, and I will tell you how much that nation knows about its own… — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea. — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
But when the pen is in his hand he has to write by itch and twitch, though certainly his itch and twitch are intimately… — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
Who could believe an ant in theory? A giraffe in blueprint? Ten thousand doctors of what's possible Could reason half the jungle out of… — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
“There was a young lady from Gloucester Who complained that her parents both bossed her, So she ran off to Maine. Did her parents… — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
One night I dreamed I was locked in my Father's watch With Ptolemy and twenty-one ruby stars Mounted on spheres and the Primum Mobile… — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone. — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it. — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
Boys are the cash of war. Whoever said: we're not free spenders- doesn't know our like. — John Ciardi Copy Share Image
