90 Quotes by Charles Simic

Found objects, chance creations, ready-mades (mass-produced items promoted into art objects, such as Duchamp's "Fountain"-urinal as sculpture) abolish the separation between art and life. The commonplace is miraculous if rightly seen.

The secret wish of poetry is to stop time.

Making art in America is about saving one's soul.

Silence is the only language god speaks.

He who cannot howl will not find his pack.

If I believe in anything, it is in the dark night of the soul. Awe is my religion, and mystery is its church.

The world is beautiful but not sayable. That's why we need art.

The plain truth is we are going to die. Here I am, a teeny spec surrounded by boundless space and time, arguing with the whole of creation, shaking my fist, sputtering, growing even eloquent at times, and then-poof! I am gone. Swept off once and for all. I think that is very, very funny.

The highest levels of consciousness are wordless.