16 John Ashbery Quotes

John Ashbery quotes

1. There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army.

2. 'Did I say that? One says so many things, and the problem is they all get written down.'

3. In the beginning there are those who don't quite fit in But are somehow okay. And then some morning There are places that suddenly seem wonderful: Weather and water seem wonderful, And the peaceful night sky that arrives In time to protect us, like a sword Cutting the blue cloak of a prince.

4. These two guys in the front yard-- Are they here to help?

1. I am often asked why I write, and I don't know really--I just want to.

2. How many people came and stayed a certain time, Uttered light or dark speech that became part of you Like light behind windblown fog and sand Filtered and influenced by it, until no part Remains that is surely you.

3. Some certified nut Will try to tell you it's poetry, (It's extraordinary, it makes a great deal of sense) But watch out or he'll start with some New notion or other.

4. The ellipse is as aimless as that, Stretching invisibly into the future so as to reappear In our present. Its flexing is its account, Return to the point of no return.

5. Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you, At incredible speed, traveling day and night…

6. The facts of history have been too well rehearsed.

7. The mind Is so hospitable, taking in everything Like boarders, and you don't see until It's all over how little there was to learn Once the stench of knowledge has dissipated.

8. In the increasingly convincing darkness The words become palpable, like a fruit That is too beautiful to eat.

9. What I like about music is its ability to be convincing, to carry an argument through successfully to the finish, though the terms of the argument remain unknown quantities.

10. I don't look on poetry as closed works. I feel they're going on all the time in my head and I occasionally snip off a length.

11. Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you, At incredible speed, traveling day and night, Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents, through narrow passes. But will he know where to find you, Recognize you when he sees you, Give you the thing he has for you?

12. The promise of learning is a delusion… Tomorrow would alter the sense of what had already been learned, that the learning process is extended in this way, so that from this standpoint none of us ever graduates from college, for time is an emulsion, and probably thinking not to grow up is the brightest kind of maturity for us, right now at any rate.