81 Quotes by John Ciardi

  • Author John Ciardi
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    Boys are the cash of war. Whoever said: we're not free spenders- doesn't know our like.

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  • Author John Ciardi
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    It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their conviction. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their convictions.

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  • Author John Ciardi
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    I have one head that wants to be good, And one that wants to be bad. And always, as soon as I get up, One of my heads is sad.

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  • Author John Ciardi
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    To read a poem with no thought in mind but to paraphrase it into a single, simple and usually high-minded prose statement is the destruction of poetry.

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  • Author John Ciardi
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    One night I dreamed I was locked in my Father's watch With Ptolemy and twenty-one ruby stars Mounted on spheres and the Primum Mobile Coiled and gleaming to the end of space And the notched spheres eating each other's rinds To the last tooth of time, and the case closed.

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