--- title: "Best Dana Gioia Quotes" description: "Michael Dana Gioia is an American poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist. Browse 47 Dana Gioia quotes." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b187/author-dana-gioia-14386.jpg" --- ![Portrait of Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b187/author-dana-gioia-14386.jpg) # Dana Gioia (1950) Poet United States **47** quotes in **293** categories Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet Dana Gioia is a poet from the United States, best known for *Literature*. ## Quick Facts About Dana Gioia Born December 24, 1950 Nationality United States Profession Poet Notable works Literature ## About Dana Gioia Michael Dana Gioia is an American poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist. ## Awards & Honors American Book Awards Presidential Citizens Medal Laetare Medal ## Quotes by Dana Gioia · Page 2 > [We lived in places that we never knew. We could not name the birds perched on our sill, Or see the trees…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/we-lived-in-places-that-we-never-knew-we-could-not-name-the-birds/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bird/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/dana-gioia-14386_bird_we-lived-in-places-that-we-never-knew-we_2809636.jpg) > [Even if great poetry continues to be written, it has retreated from the center of literary life. Though supported by a loyal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/even-if-great-poetry-continues-to-be-written-it-has-retreated-from/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5d/dana-gioia-14386_culture_even-if-great-poetry-continues-to-be-wri_1619174.png) > [And hate the bright stillness of the noon without wind, without motion. the only other living thing a hawk, hungry for prey,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/and-hate-the-bright-stillness-of-the-noon-without-wind-without-motion/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blue/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/dana-gioia-14386_blue_and-hate-the-bright-stillness-of-the-noo_2987561.png) > [Once an author finishes a poem, he becomes merely another reader. I may remember what I intended to put into a text,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/once-an-author-finishes-a-poem-he-becomes-merely-another-reader-i-may/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/387/dana-gioia-14386_books_once-an-author-finishes-a-poem-he-become_2940316.jpg) > [“The slow maturation of genuine creativity looks like laziness to a committee. Wallace Stevens was forty-three when his first book appeared. Robert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/the-slow-maturation-of-genuine-creativity-looks-like-laziness-to-a/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Academia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academia/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e0/dana-gioia-14386_academia_the-slow-maturation-of-genuine-creativit_2128397.png) > [“What if we had walked a different path one day, would some small incident have nudged us elsewhere the way a pebble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/what-if-we-had-walked-a-different-path-one-day-would-some-small/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Different path](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different-path/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/062/dana-gioia-14386_different-path_what-if-we-had-walked-a-different-path-o_788287.png) > [The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/the-purpose-of-arts-education-is-not-to-produce-more-artists-though/) [Dana Gioia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/031/dana-gioia-14386_art_the-purpose-of-arts-education-is-not-to_783491.png) ## Dana Gioia by topic [Poetry (11)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/dana-gioia/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-gioia/#itemlist", "name": "Dana Gioia Quotes", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We lived in places that we never knew. We could not name the birds perched on our sill, Or see the trees we cut down for our view. What we possessed we always chose to kill. \"We claimed the earth but did not hear her claim, And when we died, they laid us on her breast, But she refuses us until we earn Forgiveness from the lives we dispossessed.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dana Gioia" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/we-lived-in-places-that-we-never-knew-we-could-not-name-the-birds/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/dana-gioia-14386_bird_we-lived-in-places-that-we-never-knew-we_2809636.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/dana-gioia-14386_bird_we-lived-in-places-that-we-never-knew-we_2809636.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/dana-gioia-14386_bird_we-lived-in-places-that-we-never-knew-we_2809636.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We lived in places that we never knew. 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And yet how gentle it seems to someone raised in a landscape short of rain- the skyline of a hill broken by no more trees than one can count, the grass, the empty sky, the wish for water.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dana Gioia" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-gioia/and-hate-the-bright-stillness-of-the-noon-without-wind-without-motion/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/dana-gioia-14386_blue_and-hate-the-bright-stillness-of-the-noo_2987561.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/dana-gioia-14386_blue_and-hate-the-bright-stillness-of-the-noo_2987561.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/dana-gioia-14386_blue_and-hate-the-bright-stillness-of-the-noo_2987561.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“And hate the bright stillness of the noon without wind, without motion. the only other living thing a hawk…” — Dana Gioia", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once an author finishes a poem, he becomes merely another reader. 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