127 Quotes by Gwendolyn Brooks

Say to them, say to the down-keepers, the sun-slappers, the self-soilers, the harmony-hushers, “Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night.” You will be right. For that is the hard home-run. Live not for battles won. Live not for the-end-of-the-song. Live in the along.

We are each other’s magnitude and bond.

There can be no whiter whiteness than this one: An insurance man’s shirt on its morning run.

We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.

It is lonesome, yes. For we are the last of the loud. Nevertheless, live. Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind.

Reading is important – read between the lines. Don’t swallow everything.

When I start writing a poem, I don’t think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done.

I tell poets that when a line just floats into your head, don’t pay attention ’cause it probably has floated into somebody else’s head.

We don’t ask a flower any special reason for its existence. We just look at it and are able to accept it as being something different from ourselves.