---
title: "1 Past Moment Quotes By W. S. Merwin"
description: "1 Past Moment quotes by W. S. Merwin. Plus more from W. S. Merwin and more Past Moment sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f7/w-s-merwin-10641_dreams_the-past-is-always-one-moment-it-s-what_2303253.png"
---

> [The past is always - one moment it's what happened three minutes ago, and one minute it's what happened 30 years ago. And they flow into each other in ways that we can't predict and that we keep discovering in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/the-past-is-always-one-moment-it-s-what-happened-three-minutes-ago/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4f7/w-s-merwin-10641_dreams_the-past-is-always-one-moment-it-s-what_2303253.png)

## More by W. S. Merwin

> [When a poem is really finished, you can't change anything. You can't move words around. You can't say, 'In other words, you mean.' No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/when-a-poem-is-really-finished-you-can-t-change-anything-you-can-t/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [We are not born to survive. Only to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/we-are-not-born-to-survive-only-to-live/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [What you remember saves you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/what-you-remember-saves-you/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [I also think that life itself is both indifferent to us and the source of all of our joys and everything that we love.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/i-also-think-that-life-itself-is-both-indifferent-to-us-and-the/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [I think it's good for anybody to learn languages. Americans are particularly limited in that way. Europeans less so... We're beginning to have Spanish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/i-think-it-s-good-for-anybody-to-learn-languages-americans-are/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [You have to be rather relentless about pushing other things out of the way. This activity of writing, which has no promises attached to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/you-have-to-be-rather-relentless-about-pushing-other-things-out-of/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [Laughter was the shape the darkness took around the first appearance of the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/laughter-was-the-shape-the-darkness-took-around-the-first-appearance/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [In a sense, much that is learned is bound to be bad habits. You're always beginning again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/in-a-sense-much-that-is-learned-is-bound-to-be-bad-habits-you-re/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [I go five steps in the garden, and I immediately lose track of time... it is a kind of joy in being alive in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/i-go-five-steps-in-the-garden-and-i-immediately-lose-track-of-time-it/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [What I really believe is the only hopeful relation between our life and the whole of life is one of reverence and respect and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/what-i-really-believe-is-the-only-hopeful-relation-between-our-life/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [As soon as I could write with a little pencil, I was writing these little hymns and illustrating them, and I thought they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/as-soon-as-i-could-write-with-a-little-pencil-i-was-writing-these/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [There are aspects of human life that are not purely destructive, and there is a need to pay attention to the things around us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/there-are-aspects-of-human-life-that-are-not-purely-destructive-and/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [If there'd been a better-balanced society, where there were other ways of making a decent living, I think it might have been different. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/if-there-d-been-a-better-balanced-society-where-there-were-other-ways/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [We are the shadow of Sirius. There is the other side of - as we talk to each other, we see the light, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/we-are-the-shadow-of-sirius-there-is-the-other-side-of-as-we-talk-to/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

> [Any work of art makes one very simple demand on anyone who genuinely wants to get in touch with it. And that is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-merwin/any-work-of-art-makes-one-very-simple-demand-on-anyone-who-genuinely/)

[W. S. Merwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-merwin/)

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