1,059 Quotes by William Butler Yeats

A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown.

Hands, do what you're bid;Bring the balloon of the mindThat bellies and drags in the windInto its narrow shed.

We poets would die of loneliness but for women, and we choose our men friends that we may have somebody to talk about women with. Letter to Olivia Shakespeare, 1936

even The bed of love, that in the imagination Had seemed to be the giver of all peace, Is no more than a wine-cup in the tasting, And as soon finished.

There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.

The Bishop has a skin, God knows, Wrinkled like the foot of a goose, (All find safety in the tomb.) Nor can he hide in holy black The heron's hunch upon his back, But a birch-tree stood my Jack....

And when you sigh from kiss to kiss I hear white Beauty sighing, too, For hours when all must fade like dew....

Test every work of intellect or faith and everything that your own hands have wrought.

All shuffle there; all cough in ink;All wear the carpet with their shoes;All think what other people think;All know the man their neighbour knows,Lord, what would they sayDid their Catullus walk that way?