Wislawa Szymborska Quotes

There's never been a culture without poetry in the history of the world.

I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order; - poetry = the best words in the best order.

Some of my favorite poets had a tremendous sense of whimsy, so it's a writing style I guess I admire.

Poetry is not Irish or any other nationality; and when writers such as Messrs. Clarke, Farren and the late F. R. Higgins pursue Irishness as a poetic end, they are merely exploiting incidental local colour.

There is poetry even in prose, in all the great prose which is not merely utilitarian or didactic: there exist poets who write in prose or at least in more or less apparent prose; millions of poets write verses which have no connection with poetry.

The poetical language of an age should be the current language heightened.

The object of poetic activity is essentially language: whatever his beliefs and convictions, the poet is more concerned with words than with what these words designate.

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague answer, such as, 'Poetry is the music of words,' or 'Poetry is the linguistic correction of disorder.'

I never abandoned either forms or freedom. I imagine that most of what could be called free verse is in my first book. I got through that fairly early.

I'm happy to be a writer - of prose, poetry, every kind of writing. Every person in the world who isn't a recluse, hermit or mute uses words. I know of no other art form that we always use.

I was always a huge fan of E. E. Cummings. He did a series of lectures at Harvard or Princeton, and they were recorded. And they were incredibly moving.

I used to write sonnets and various things, and moved from there into writing prose, which, incidentally, is a lot more interesting than poetry, including the rhythms of prose.

I was an English major in college, so I really liked spoken word and poetry; it was what I did before I wrote music.

The thing about great poetry is we have no defenses against it.

Poets don't draw. They unravel their handwriting and then tie it up again, but differently.

I'm a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.

The future author is one who discovers that language, the exploration and manipulation of the resources of language, will serve him in winning through to his way.

I didn't want to deal in poetry. I got rid of that after a few months.

Could I have chosen my own genius, I should have made myself a great poet.

The only nice poets I've ever met were bad poets, and a bad poet is not a poet at all - ergo, I've never met a nice poet.

What I wrote all the time when I was a kid - I don't want to call it 'poetry,' because it wasn't poetry. I was not that kind of a writer. I was a rhymer. I was a fan of Dorothy Parker's, so maybe I wrote poetry to that extent, but my main focus was the humor of it, and word construction, and the slant. Your words, it's a very powerful experience.

The appellation of a Scottish Bard is by far my highest pride; to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition.

For awhile after you quit Keats all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming.

I am a patriot, but I must say that English poetry is the richest in the world.