"I like ornament at the right time, but……" — Jack Gilbert
"I like ornament at the right time, but I don't want a poem to be made out of decoration ... When I read the poems that matter to me, it stuns me how much the presence of the heart-in all its forms-is endlessly available there. To experience ourselves in an important way just knocks me out. It puzzles me why people have given that up for cleverness. Some of them are ingenious, more ingenious than I am, but so many of them aren't any good at being alive."
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Jack Gilbert
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29 Quotes by Jack Gilbert
Jack Gilbert has 29 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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What we feel most has no name but amber, archers, cinnamon, horses and birds.
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We are surrounded by the absurd excess of the universe. By meaningless bulk, vastness without size, power without consequence. The…
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We think the fire eats the wood. We are wrong. The wood reaches out to the flame. The fire licks…
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Being alive is so extraordinary I don’t know why people limit it to riches, pride, security—all of those things life…
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Why do so manysettle for so little? I don't understand why they're not greedy for what's inside them.
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I'm vain enough to think that I've made a successful life. I've had everything I've ever wanted. You can't beat…
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Fame is a lot of fun, but it's not interesting. I loved being noticed and praised, even the banquets. But…
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I had lived all of my youthful dreams, but I couldn't think of many adult ones. I finally realized that…
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I would say Pittsburgh softly each time before throwing him up. Whisper Pittsburgh with my mouth against the tiny ear…
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Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods. Our dream wrestles in the castle of doubt. But there’s music in…
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The woman is not just a pleasure, nor even a problem. She is a meniscus that allows the absolute to…
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It is convenient for the old men to blame Eve. To insist we are damned because a country girl talked…
See all 29 quotes by Jack Gilbert »
More Alive Quotes
This quote is filed under Alive Quotes,
one of 4,909 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the…
— David Attenborough
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No poet or novelist wishes he were the only one who ever lived, but most of them wish they were…
— Wystan Hugh Auden
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When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe,…
— Marcus Aurelius
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I think if we didn't contradict ourselves, it would be awfully boring. It would be tedious to be alive.
— Paul Auster
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Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't.
— Richard Bach
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The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our teacher. That's why, in prayer, we can ask the Lord to open up…
— Michele Bachmann
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A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and…
— Pearl Bailey
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It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me…
— James A. Baldwin
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I tried to keep both arts alive, but the camera won. I found that while the camera does not express…
— Ansel Adams
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My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened... well, I'm just thankful…
— Travis Barker
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As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then…
— Roseanne Barr
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The real truth is, I just want to keep the voice of dissent alive in all of our elections. I…
— Roseanne Barr
See all 4,909 Alive Quotes »