---
title: "1 Poets Great Quotes By Sam Hamill"
description: "1 Poets Great quotes by Sam Hamill. Plus more from Sam Hamill and more Poets Great sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b99/sam-hamill-16399_balance_we-re-certainly-not-perfect-and-we-re-no_2679768.jpg"
---

> [We're certainly not perfect, and we're not probably even better than anybody else, except that perhaps we are given to certain kinds of contemplation that provide a valuable balance to the knee-jerk reactionary behavior of most of our newspapers and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/we-re-certainly-not-perfect-and-we-re-not-probably-even-better-than/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b99/sam-hamill-16399_balance_we-re-certainly-not-perfect-and-we-re-no_2679768.jpg)

## More by Sam Hamill

> [If only we could touch the things of this world at their center, if we could only hear tiny leaves of birch struggling toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/if-only-we-could-touch-the-things-of-this-world-at-their-center-if-we/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [I'm basically a poetry scholar, and I'm happier here in my studio with my row of Chinese dictionaries than I am, frankly, at Lincoln…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/i-m-basically-a-poetry-scholar-and-i-m-happier-here-in-my-studio-with/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [We poets don't tend to be certain a lot. Much of our art is made out of our own uncertainty. And there is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/we-poets-don-t-tend-to-be-certain-a-lot-much-of-our-art-is-made-out/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [Each of us as poets, as decent suffering human beings, has to find a way to run our lives that is compassionate toward one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/each-of-us-as-poets-as-decent-suffering-human-beings-has-to-find-a/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [Korea's first Zen Master-poet wrote simple yet elegant poetry of the world he inhabited, both physically and spiritually, and of daily insights-a pause along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/korea-s-first-zen-master-poet-wrote-simple-yet-elegant-poetry-of-the/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [There's a fragment that goes, "Some say the most beautiful thing in the world is a great cavalry riding down over the hill. Others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/there-s-a-fragment-that-goes-some-say-the-most-beautiful-thing-in-the/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [I think a lot of American poets are swimming-pool Soviets. A lot of them have taken the comfortable, self-protective route too often. I know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/i-think-a-lot-of-american-poets-are-swimming-pool-soviets-a-lot-of/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [Nothing will change until we demolish the "we-they" mentality. We are human, and therefore all human concerns are ours. And those concerns are personal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/nothing-will-change-until-we-demolish-the-we-they-mentality-we-are/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [I'm a poet who practices Zen. And it's not, I'm somebody who practices Zen who writes poetry. There's no separation for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/i-m-a-poet-who-practices-zen-and-it-s-not-i-m-somebody-who-practices/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [Kenneth Rexroth took me under his wing for a brief period. I was fifteen years old, and I was smoking a lot of heroin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/kenneth-rexroth-took-me-under-his-wing-for-a-brief-period-i-was/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [One of the things I love about translation is it obliterates the self. When I'm trying to figure out what Tu Fu has to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/one-of-the-things-i-love-about-translation-is-it-obliterates-the-self/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [The oldest cliché in the world is about "what's lost in translation," but you don't very often read much intelligent about what's gained by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/the-oldest-clich-in-the-world-is-about-what-s-lost-in-translation-but/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [The only thing we all agree on, virtually every poet in this country, is that this Administration is really frightening, and we want something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/the-only-thing-we-all-agree-on-virtually-every-poet-in-this-country/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [George W. Bush is using language that's a mirror image of the language of Osama bin Laden when he says, "We have God on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/george-w-bush-is-using-language-that-s-a-mirror-image-of-the-language/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

> [I would say that my great political awakening was really born on Okinawa, reading Albert Camus: the "Neither Victims nor Executioners" essay and The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/i-would-say-that-my-great-political-awakening-was-really-born-on/)

[Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/)

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