653 Quotes by Mary Oliver

My first two books are out of print and, okay, they can sleep there comfortably. It's early work, derivative work.

A dog is adorable and noble, a dog is a true and loving friend. A dog is also a hedonist.

Every day I walk out into the world / to be dazzled, then to be reflective.

One thing I do know is that poetry, to be understood, must be clear.

What I have done is learn to love and learn to be loved. That didn't come easy.

I want to be braver and more honest about my life. When you're sexually abused, there's a lot of damage.

As a child, what captivated me was reading the poems myself and realizing that there was a world without material substance which was nevertheless as alive as any other.

It is no use thinking that writing of poems - the actual writing - can accommodate itself to a social setting, even the most sympathetic social setting of a workshop composed of friends. It cannot. The work improves there and often the will to work gets valuable nourishment and ideas. But, for good reasons, the poem requires of the writer not society or instruction, but a patch of profound and unbroken solitude.

Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.