---
title: "1 Say Lines Quotes By Michael Longley"
description: "1 Say Lines quotes by Michael Longley. Plus more from Michael Longley and more Say Lines sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/25d/michael-longley-26639_ambition_i-m-not-against-ambition-and-reach-but-i_3196948.jpg"
---

> [I'm not against ambition and reach, but if you can say it in four lines, why waste your time saying it in more? Challenge the world by all means, but it's bad for your poetry to take steroids.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-m-not-against-ambition-and-reach-but-if-you-can-say-it-in-four/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/25d/michael-longley-26639_ambition_i-m-not-against-ambition-and-reach-but-i_3196948.jpg)

## More by Michael Longley

> [The gap between verse and poetry is enormous. Between good poetry and good prose the gap is much narrower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/the-gap-between-verse-and-poetry-is-enormous-between-good-poetry-and/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [I would insist that poetry is a normal human activity and its proper concern all the things that happen to people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-would-insist-that-poetry-is-a-normal-human-activity-and-its-proper/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [Most poets' revisions are disastrous. They buckle and dent what was originally forged at a red-hot heat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/most-poets-revisions-are-disastrous-they-buckle-and-dent-what-was/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [In America, where you'd have thought the country's so huge it couldn't happen quite so cosily, everyone's giving his imprimatur to everyone else. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/in-america-where-you-d-have-thought-the-country-s-so-huge-it-couldn-t/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [Every Monday morning I try to remember to say "Thank you, Lord. I'm not at the Senior Staff Meeting."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/every-monday-morning-i-try-to-remember-to-say-thank-you-lord-i-m-not/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [I work hard to make the poems as good as they can be, and if they're not good enough I scrap them. I find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-work-hard-to-make-the-poems-as-good-as-they-can-be-and-if-they-re/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [The job has left me with a healthy disregard for what you might call Public Life. I have no desire now to go to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/the-job-has-left-me-with-a-healthy-disregard-for-what-you-might-call/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [Of course, when a poem is being born, the reasoning part of the brain throbs away at full throttle, but all the other areas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/of-course-when-a-poem-is-being-born-the-reasoning-part-of-the-brain/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [I hardly ever look at my published books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-hardly-ever-look-at-my-published-books/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [I suppose that as you grow older some sense of an accumulating oeuvre is unavoidable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-suppose-that-as-you-grow-older-some-sense-of-an-accumulating-oeuvre/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [For me the form, the stanzaic shape, is an endorsement, proof that I'm engaged with the Latin or Greek at an original level, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/for-me-the-form-the-stanzaic-shape-is-an-endorsement-proof-that-i-m/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [Weddings and funerals have so much in common (except that in Ireland funerals are more fun - better food, better drink): at both, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/weddings-and-funerals-have-so-much-in-common-except-that-in-ireland/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [I'm not the kind of poet who arranges treasure-hunts to please the academics and keep them busy. Poetry should be surprising in deeper ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-m-not-the-kind-of-poet-who-arranges-treasure-hunts-to-please-the/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [I don't know where the shape of a poem comes from. I certainly don't impose it. I write out of a jumble of emotions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/i-don-t-know-where-the-shape-of-a-poem-comes-from-i-certainly-don-t/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

> [A good poem is not completely a poem until it has received a critical response that grows out of the poem in an almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-longley/a-good-poem-is-not-completely-a-poem-until-it-has-received-a-critical/)

[Michael Longley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-longley/)

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