Karl Shapiro Quotes

The Greeks have given to the world the science of history; the Israelites gave to the world historical religion. In contrast to all their neighbors, both peoples knew what history is; this is no consequence of their mental giftedness, however, for there is another reason. Through mighty events both peoples experienced what history is, and by the investment of their lives they made history.

Don't underestimate the power of events that happened a long time ago. That is the tragic flaw of modern man.

History was like some vast thing that was always over the tight horizon, invisible except in its effects. It was what happened when you weren't looking -- an unknowable infinity of events, which although out of control, controlled everything.

Events are as much the parents of the future as they were the children of the past.

I learn a lot about my poems when I read them by the way people respond to them.

Novels taught me that history is dramatic. I wanted my students to know that, too.

You have an absolute right to translate poetry in any form with any sound. It's all up for grabs.

I consider Monroe a pretty minor president. In spite of the Monroe Doctrine. That's the only important thing he ever did more or less on his own, when you really get down to it.

I actually do think the history is so epic that it actually kind of writes itself.

Make history or be a part of it.

Art may not have the power to change the course of history, but it can provide a perspective on historical events that needs to be heard, even if it's seldom heeded. After all the temporary influences that once directed the course of history have vanished, great art survives and continues to speak to each generation.

The poet is in the end probably more afraid of the dogmatist who wants to extract the message from the poem and throw the poem away than he is of the sentimentalist who says, "Oh, just let me enjoy the poem."

Primitive times are lyrical, ancient times epical, modern times dramatic. The ode sings of eternity, the epic imparts solemnity tohistory, the drama depicts life. The characteristic of the first poetry is ingeniousness, of the second, simplicity, of the third, truth.

It may be doubted that there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as have these lowly organized creatures.

It is not heroes that make history, but history that makes heroes.

The only important thing to realise about history is that it all took place in the last five minutes.

Poets... are literal-minded men who will squeeze a word till it hurts.

Aristotle may be regarded as the cultural barometer of Western history. Whenever his influence dominated the scene, it paved the way for one of history's brilliant eras; whenever it fell, so did mankind.

All language is rhetorical, and even the senses are poets.

A king or a prince becomes by accident a part of history. A poet or an artist becomes by nature and necessity a part of universal humanity.

History. The more of it you have the more you have to live it. After a little while there gets to be too much of it to memorize and maybe that's when empires start to decline.

History gets thicker as it approaches recent times: more people, more events, and more books written about them. More evidence is preserved, often, one is tempted to say, too much. Decay and destruction have hardly begun their beneficent work.

What we end up calling history is a kind of knife, slicing down through time. A few people are hard enough to bend its edge. But most won't even stand close to the blade. I'm one of those. We don't bend anything.

A poet is not a public figure. A poet should be read and not seen.