1,059 Quotes by William Butler Yeats

Many ingenious lovely things are gone / That seemed sheer miracle to the multitude...

Some burn damp faggots, others may consume The entire combustible world in one small room.

Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die.

In the great cities we see so little of the world, we drift into our minority. In the little towns and villages there are no minorities; people are not numerous enough. You must see the world there, perforce. Every man is himself a class.

Man can embody truth but he cannot know it. The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, and if it take the second must refuse a heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

O heart! O heart! if she'd but turn her head You'd know the folly of being comforted.

Come swish around my pretty punk And keep me dancing still That I may stay a sober man Although I drink my fill.

All the wild-witches, those most notable ladies For all their broom-sticks and their tears, Their angry tears, are gone.

Man can embody truth bet he cannot know it.