“There may be losses too great to understand That rove after you and--faint and terrible-- rip unknown through your hand.” — William Stafford Death Copy Share Image
Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. — William Stafford Children Copy Share Image
You can lie at a banquet but you have to be honest in the kitchen. — William Stafford Banquet Copy Share Image
It's love,' they say. You touch the right one and a whole half of the universe wakes up, a new half. — William Stafford Half Copy Share Image
When a goat likes a book, the whole book is gone, and the meaning has to go find an author again. — William Stafford Book Copy Share Image
“Which of the horses we passed yesterday whinnied all night in my dreams? I want that one.” — William Stafford Dreams Copy Share Image
A writer is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things. — William Stafford Found Copy Share Image
When the snake decided to go straight, he didn't get anywhere. — William Stafford Decided Copy Share Image
I am not learning definitions as established in even the latest dictionaries. I am not a dictionary-maker. I am a person a… — William Stafford Definitions Copy Share Image
All still when summer is over stand shocks in the field, nothing left to whisper, not even good-bye, to the wind. After… — William Stafford Bye Copy Share Image
My question is "when did other people give up the idea of being a poet?" You know, when we are kids we… — William Stafford Giving Copy Share Image
You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait. We know the current is there, hidden; and there… — William Stafford Currents Copy Share Image
“I am your own way of looking at things," she said. "When you allow me to live with you, every glance at… — William Stafford Looking Copy Share Image
One way to find your place is like the rain, a million requests for lodging, one that wins, finds your cheek: you… — William Stafford Cheeks Copy Share Image
...What you fear will not go away; it will take you into yourself and bless you and keep you. That's the world,… — William Stafford Bless Copy Share Image
I don't see writing as a communication of something already discovered, as "truths" already known. Rather, I see writing as a job… — William Stafford Communication Copy Share Image
“With Kit, Age Seven, at the Beach We would climb the highest dune, from there to gaze and come down: the ocean… — William Stafford Gaze Copy Share Image
I have this feeling of wending my way or plundering through a mysterious jungle of possibilities when I am writing. This jungle… — William Stafford Developing Copy Share Image
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying the things you do not have to say weakens your… — William Stafford Hearing Copy Share Image
What you have to do as a writer is . . . write day in and day out no matter what happens. — William Stafford Happens Copy Share Image
“. . . On a sandbar sunlight stretches out its limbs, or is it a sycamore, so brazen, so clean and bold?” — William Stafford Poetry Copy Share Image
Others may be able to accept standards from another, but an artist is a person who decides. — William Stafford Able Copy Share Image
“I would exchange all that I have written for the next thing.” — William Stafford Exchange Copy Share Image
An owl sound wandered along the road with me. I didn't hear it--I breathed it into my ears. — William Stafford Ears Copy Share Image
People wander about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. — William Stafford Journey Copy Share Image
The signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-/should be clear/the darkness around us is deep. — William Stafford Clear Copy Share Image
I just kept on doing what everyone starts out doing. The real question is, why did other people stop? — William Stafford People Copy Share Image
You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self. — William Stafford Exercise Copy Share Image
When you allow me to live with you, every glance at the world around you will be a sort of salvation. — William Stafford Allow Copy Share Image
Literature is not a picture of life, but is a separate experience with its own kind of flow and enhancement. — William Stafford Books Copy Share Image
A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that… — William Stafford Found Copy Share Image
The earth says have a place, be what that place requires; hear the sound the birds imply and see as deep as… — William Stafford Behinds Copy Share Image
Security of character would be like a compass, you know? Other people may say that this way is north, or this way… — William Stafford Character Copy Share Image
You were aimed from birth: you will never be alone... The whole wide world pours down. — William Stafford Birth Copy Share Image
“Poverty plus confidence equals pioneers. We never doubted.” — William Stafford Confidence Copy Share Image
They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to… — William Stafford Answers Copy Share Image
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world than the breathing respect that you carry wherever you go right now? — William Stafford Breathing Copy Share Image
You shouldn't have standards that inhibit you from writing It really doesn't make any difference if you are good or bad today.… — William Stafford Assessment Copy Share Image
“When a goat likes a book, the whole book is gone, and the meaning has to go find an author again. -… — William Stafford Book Copy Share Image
