1,059 Quotes by William Butler Yeats

To be born woman is to know – although they do not speak of it at school – women must labor to be beautiful.

The common breeds the common, A lout begets a lout, So when I take on half a score I knock their heads about.

We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare, More substance in our enmities Than in our love.

I broke my heart in two So hard I struck. What matter? for I know That out of rock, Out of a desolate source, Love leaps upon its course.

Man is in love and loves what vanishes, What more is there to say?

Never leave the door open at this hour, or evil may come to you.

Come near; I would, before my time to go, Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways: Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.

Let the new faces play what tricks they will In the old rooms; night can outbalance day, Our shadows rove the garden gravel still, The living seem more shadowy than they.

It’s certain there are trout somewhere – And maybe I shall take a trout – but I do not seem to care.