18 Quotes by George Oppen

There are situations which cannot honorably be met by art.

It is necessary to study these words you have written, for the words have a longer history than you have and say more than you know.

Things explain each other, not themselves.

The meaning of a poem is in the cadences and the shape of the lines and the pulse of the thought which is given by those lines.

Those who are not very concerned with art want poems or pictures to record for them something they already know - as one might want a picture of a place he loves.

The self is no mystery, the mystery is / That there is something for us to stand on

Only one mistake, Ezra! You should have talked to women.

Those who are not very concerned with art want poems or pictures to record for them something they already know – as one might want a picture of a place he loves.

Truth, also is the pursuit of it.