--- title: "4 Touching Quotes By Mary Oliver" description: "4 Touching quotes by Mary Oliver. Plus more from Mary Oliver and more Touching sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/mary-oliver-570_ancient_poetry-is-one-of-the-ancient-arts-and-it_1606805.jpg" --- > [Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began, as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-one-of-the-ancient-arts-and-it-began-as-did-all-the-fine-2/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a71/mary-oliver-570_ancient_poetry-is-one-of-the-ancient-arts-and-it_1606805.jpg) > [Though I play at the edges of knowing, truly I know our part is not knowing, but looking, and touching, and loving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/though-i-play-at-the-edges-of-knowing-truly-i-know-our-part-is-not/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/mary-oliver-570_knowing_though-i-play-at-the-edges-of-knowing-tr_2937144.jpg) > [Why I Wake Early Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/why-i-wake-early-hello-sun-in-my-face-hello-you-who-made-the-morning/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aaa/mary-oliver-570_darkness_why-i-wake-early-hello-sun-in-my-face-he_2941434.jpg) > [I had a dog who loved flowers. Briskly she went through the fields, yet paused for the honeysuckle or the rose, her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/i-had-a-dog-who-loved-flowers-briskly-she-went-through-the-fields-yet/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b12/mary-oliver-570_air_i-had-a-dog-who-loved-flowers-briskly-sh_3232013.jpg) ## Other authors on Touching - [Katie McGarry 9 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/katie-mcgarry/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-sherrilyn-kenyon-84925.jpg) Sherrilyn Kenyon 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/sherrilyn-kenyon/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-richelle-mead-78985.jpg) Richelle Mead 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/richelle-mead/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-maggie-stiefvater-62633.jpg) Maggie Stiefvater 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/maggie-stiefvater/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-colleen-hoover-24862.jpg) Colleen Hoover 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/colleen-hoover/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-catherine-anderson-21601.jpg) Catherine Anderson 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/catherine-anderson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-tahereh-mafi-88649.jpg) Tahereh Mafi 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/tahereh-mafi/) - [Mehmet Murat ildan 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/mehmet-murat-ildan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-john-green-51499.jpg) John Green 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/john-green/) - [Jennifer L. Armentrout 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/jennifer-l-armentrout/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-frederick-lenz-36205.jpg) Frederick Lenz 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/frederick-lenz/) ## More by Mary Oliver > [Belief isn't always easy. But this much I have learned--- if not enough else--- to live with my eyes open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/belief-isn-t-always-easy-but-this-much-i-have-learned-if-not-enough/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [In this universe we are given two gifts: the ability to love and the ability to question. Which are, at the same time, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/in-this-universe-we-are-given-two-gifts-the-ability-to-love-and-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Poetry is one of the original arts, and it began, as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-one-of-the-original-arts-and-it-began-as-did-all-the-fine/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees - to learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-dream-of-my-life-is-to-lie-down-by-a-slow-river-and-stare-at-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/tell-me-what-is-it-you-plan-to-do-with-your-one-wild-and-precious-life/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“All important ideas must include the trees, the mountains, and the rivers. • To understand many things you must reach out of your own condition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-important-ideas-must-include-the-trees-the-mountains-and-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Sometimes I think, were I just a little rougher made, I would go altogether to the woods—to my work entirely, and solitude, a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/sometimes-i-think-were-i-just-a-little-rougher-made-i-would-go/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“First Snow The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/first-snow-the-snow-began-here-this-morning-and-all-day-continued-its/) [mary oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“What can I say that I have not said before? So I’ll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/what-can-i-say-that-i-have-not-said-before-so-i-ll-say-it-again-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [The sea is the most beautiful face in our universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-sea-is-the-most-beautiful-face-in-our-universe/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [There is nothing better than work. Work is also play; children know that. Children play earnestly as if it were work. But people grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-nothing-better-than-work-work-is-also-play-children-know/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“What will you do with your one precious, wild life?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/what-will-you-do-with-your-one-precious-wild-life/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-a-life-cherishing-force-for-poems-are-not-words-after-all/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“I stood like Adam in his lonely garden On that first morning, shaken out of sleep, Rubbing his eyes, listening, parting the leaves, Like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/i-stood-like-adam-in-his-lonely-garden-on-that-first-morning-shaken/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/we-all-have-a-hungry-heart-and-one-of-the-things-we-hunger-for-is/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touching/mary-oliver/#itemlist", "name": "4 Touching Quotes By Mary Oliver", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began, as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth. 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Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the nodding morning glories, and into the windows of, even, the miserable and the crotchety – best preacher that ever was, dear star, that just happens to be where you are in the universe to keep us from ever-darkness, to ease us with warm touching, to hold us in the great hands of light – good morning, good morning, good morning. 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