653 Quotes by Mary Oliver

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable. I don't really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours. Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible.

The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees - to learn something by being nothing

Attention without feeling--is only a report.

Like Magellan, let us find our islands To die in, far from home, from anywhere Familiar. Let us risk the wildest places, Lest we go down in comfort, and despair.

I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us...

What misery to be afraid of death. What wretchedness, to believe only in what can be proven.

Invention hovers always a little above the rules.

And that is just the point... how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. "Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?

In the glare of your mind, be modest. And beholden to what is tactile, and thrilling.