Stevie Smith

The world is come upon me, I used to keep it a long way off, But now I have been run over…

— Stevie Smith

My heart was full of softening showers, I used to swing like this for hours, I did not care for war or…

— Stevie Smith

Life in the [London] suburb is richer at the lower levels. At these levels the people are not self-conscious at all, they…

— Stevie Smith

“Some are born for peace and joy Some are born for sorrow But only for a day as we Shall not be…

— Stevie Smith

Colours are what drive me most strongly.

— Stevie Smith

I don't think Auden liked my poetry very much, he's very Anglican.

— Stevie Smith

“And soon all our minds will be flat as a pancake, With no room for genius exaltation or heartache. And our children…

— Stevie Smith

“Hope and desire, All unfulfilled, Have more than rope And hangman killed.”

— Stevie Smith

This is the simplest of all thoughts, that Death must come when we call, although he is a god.

— Stevie Smith

Not Waving but Drowning Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you…

— Stevie Smith

Who is this that comes in grandeur, coming from the blazing East? This is he we had not thought of, this is…

— Stevie Smith

But one wants the idea of Death, you know, as something large and unknowable, something that allows a person to stretch himself…

— Stevie Smith

Life may be treacherous, but you can always depend on death.

— Stevie Smith

Cry pretty, pretty, pretty and you'll be able Very soon not even to cry pretty And so be delivered entirely from humanity…

— Stevie Smith

Marriage I think For women Is the best of opiates. It kills the thoughts That think about the thoughts, It is the…

— Stevie Smith

It is the privilege of the rich To waste the time of the poor To water with tears in secret A tree…

— Stevie Smith

Coleridge received the Person from Porlock And ever after called him a curse, Then why did he hurry to let him in?…

— Stevie Smith

See the cat at love, rolling with its sweetheart, up and over, with shriek and moan. But if a person comes by,…

— Stevie Smith

You must have some money if you are going to live simply. It need not be much, but you must have some.

— Stevie Smith

“I am a forward-looking girl and don't stay where I am. "Left right, Be bright," as I said in my poem. That's…

— Stevie Smith

I like to see cats in movement. A galloping cat is a fine sight. See it cross the road in a streak,…

— Stevie Smith

“But oh how sure I am that it is so much better to have love with all its pains and terrors and…

— Stevie Smith

I'll have your heart, if not by gift my knife Shall carve it out. I'll have your heart, your life.

— Stevie Smith

I made Man with too many faults. Yet I love him. And if he wishes, I have a home above for him.

— Stevie Smith

All poetry has to do is to make a strong communication. All the poet has to do is listen. The poet is…

— Stevie Smith