John Ashbery Quotes

I laugh, and it's laughter, not light, that casts out the darkness building within me, that reminds me I am still alive, even in this strange place where everything I've ever known is coming apart.

She could not ignore life. She had to live it and it was too brutal, too hostile, for her even to try to gloss over its harshness with a smile

Every human being on this planet has their pain and their heartache and it's up to all of us to find our way back to the light.

There’s always going to be ups and downs in life and it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel the pain. Pain is good. It makes you stronger in time. You will realize how great the ‘great’ really is. Life is about ups and downs. You just have to be able to ride the waves.

Life is bearable even when it's unbearable: that is what's so terrible, that is the unbearable thing about it.

To live beneath sorrow, one must yield to it.

The cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day also be the receptacle of joy.

We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, "Oh, nothing!" Pride helps; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our hurts— not to hurt others.

It always surprised him when he thought of it later that he did not sink under the load of despair.

Every driven person comes from a mountain of pain they wish to keep hidden.

I lost my eyes In east wind skies Here's where I've cried Where I've tried Where God and the Tendaberry rise Where Quakers and revolutionaries Join for life

The stubbornest of wills Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness,Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through.

Count not thyself to have found true peace, if thou hast felt no grief; nor that then all is well if thou hast no adversary; nor that this is perfect, if all things fall out according to thy desire.

It is the measure of my individual struggle from darkness toward some measure of light.

Something hurts, lean in. You just lean into that point until it loses its power over you. There's a certain amount of suffering that you have to be willing to sustain if you want to have a good life. And the real trick is to be able to sustain it with your heart open and still be loving.

I have wondered why is it that some people are less affected and torn by the verities of life and death that others.

My injuries are a long way from my heart.

I have been schooled by my own suffering: I've learned the many ways of being purged.

Crying is right at hand in the smothering dark, closed inside someone else, when you see how everything you can ever accomplish will end up as trash.

You spend so much time, so much effort, trying to hold yourself together. And then everything falls apart anyway.

What they don't know is that I went over the edge years ago, and lived to tell the tale.

When your heart is broken, when your heart has cracks in it, it lets the light in.

Being alone makes us stronger. That’s the honest truth. But it’s cold comfort, since even if I wanted company no one will come near me anymore.

I feel strong. Not strong enough to face myself, but strong enough to keep going.