Seamus Heaney quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Seamus Heaney on Wise Famous Quotes.

Seamus Heaney quotes: For every one of us, living in this worldmeans waiting for our end.

For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end.

Seamus Heaney quotes: My body was braille for the creeping influences.

My body was braille for the creeping influences.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.

Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.

Seamus Heaney quotes: My experience is that prose usually equals duty - last minute, overdue-deadline stuff or a panic lecture to be written.

My experience is that prose usually equals duty - last minute, overdue-deadline stuff or a panic lecture to be written.

Seamus Heaney quotes: For now that it was gone, it all seemed Far stranger: more fantastical than Pharaoh. And he was changed: a foreigner among them.

For now that it was gone, it all seemed Far stranger: more fantastical than Pharaoh. And he was changed: a foreigner among them.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I credit poetry for making this space-walk possible.

I credit poetry for making this space-walk possible.

Seamus Heaney quotes: In a war situation or where violence and injustice are prevalent, poetry is called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty.

In a war situation or where violence and injustice are prevalent, poetry is called upon to be something more than a thing of beauty.

Seamus Heaney quotes: A person from Northern Ireland is naturally cautious.

A person from Northern Ireland is naturally cautious.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.

Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Suspect too much sweet talk but never close your mind.

Suspect too much sweet talk but never close your mind.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Write whatever you like!

Write whatever you like!

Seamus Heaney quotes: I'm a firm believer in learning by heart.

I'm a firm believer in learning by heart.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I suppose you could say my father's world was Thomas Hardy and my mother's D.H. Lawrence.

I suppose you could say my father's world was Thomas Hardy and my mother's D.H. Lawrence.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I've nothing against the Queen personally. I had lunch at the Palace once upon a time.

I've nothing against the Queen personally. I had lunch at the Palace once upon a time.

Seamus Heaney quotes: There is risk and truth to yourselves and the world before you.

There is risk and truth to yourselves and the world before you.

Seamus Heaney quotes: And here is lovelike a tinsmith's scoopsunk past its gleanin the meal-binSunlight

And here is love
like a tinsmith's scoop
sunk past its glean
in the meal-bin
Sunlight

Seamus Heaney quotes: I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center.

I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center.

Seamus Heaney quotes: In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself.

In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage.The wet centre is bottomless.

The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage.
The wet centre is bottomless.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The next move is always the test.

The next move is always the test.

Seamus Heaney quotes: If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.

If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I came from a farming background, and my career was teaching.

I came from a farming background, and my career was teaching.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Poetry is language in orbit.

Poetry is language in orbit.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Dylan Thomas is now as much a case history as a chapter in the history of poetry.

Dylan Thomas is now as much a case history as a chapter in the history of poetry.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Your temperament is what you write with, but it's also how you deal with the world.

Your temperament is what you write with, but it's also how you deal with the world.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job

I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job

Seamus Heaney quotes: You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.

You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.

Seamus Heaney quotes: We go to poetry, we go to literature in general, to be forwarded within ourselves.

We go to poetry, we go to literature in general, to be forwarded within ourselves.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I think of Dermot Healy as the heir to Patrick Kavanagh.

I think of Dermot Healy as the heir to Patrick Kavanagh.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Wherever that man went, he went gratefully.

Wherever that man went, he went gratefully.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Fate goes ever as fate must.

Fate goes ever as fate must.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I've always associated the moment of writing with a moment of lift, of joy, of unexpected reward.

I've always associated the moment of writing with a moment of lift, of joy, of unexpected reward.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can't be too optimistic.

Anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can't be too optimistic.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I cannot be weaned/Off the earth's long contour, her river-veins.

I cannot be weaned/Off the earth's long contour, her river-veins.

Seamus Heaney quotes: You yourself don't have to be shaken by mortal danger in order to feel your mortality.

You yourself don't have to be shaken by mortal danger in order to feel your mortality.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I always had a superstitious fear of setting up a too well-designed writing place and then finding that the writing had absconded.

I always had a superstitious fear of setting up a too well-designed writing place and then finding that the writing had absconded.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Believe that further shoreIs reachable from here.Believe in miracleAnd cures and healing wells.

Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells.

Seamus Heaney quotes: So whether he calls it spirit music or not, I don't care. He took it out of wind off mid-Atlantic.

So whether he calls it spirit music or not, I don't care. He took it out of wind off mid-Atlantic.

Seamus Heaney quotes: You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.

You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Believe that a further shore is reachable from here.

Believe that a further shore is reachable from here.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.

I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Smile As you find a rhythm Working you, slow mile by mile, Into your proper haunt.

Smile As you find a rhythm Working you, slow mile by mile, Into your proper haunt.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I don't think my intelligence is naturally analytic or political.

I don't think my intelligence is naturally analytic or political.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Behaviour that's admiredis the path to power among people everywhere.

Behaviour that's admired
is the path to power among people everywhere.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Sonnet is about movement in a form.

Sonnet is about movement in a form.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The dotted line my father's ashplant made On Sandymount Strand Is something else the tide won't wash away.

The dotted line my father's ashplant made On Sandymount Strand Is something else the tide won't wash away.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The end of art is peace.

The end of art is peace.

Seamus Heaney quotes: You carried your own burden and very soon your symptoms of creeping privilege disappeared.

You carried your own burden and very soon your symptoms of creeping privilege disappeared.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Since I was a schoolboy, I've been used to being recognized on the road by old and young, and being bantered with and, indeed, being taunted.

Since I was a schoolboy, I've been used to being recognized on the road by old and young, and being bantered with and, indeed, being taunted.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Was music once a proof of God's existence? As long as it admits things beyond measure, That supposition stands.

Was music once a proof of God's existence? As long as it admits things beyond measure, That supposition stands.

Seamus Heaney quotes: As a young poet, you need corroboration, and that's what publication does.

As a young poet, you need corroboration, and that's what publication does.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I've been in the habit of helping people.

I've been in the habit of helping people.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.

Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Without needing to be theoretically instructed, consciousness quickly realizes that it is the site of variously contending discourses.

Without needing to be theoretically instructed, consciousness quickly realizes that it is the site of variously contending discourses.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Don't be surprised if I demur, for, be advised my passport's green.

Don't be surprised if I demur, for, be advised my passport's green.

Seamus Heaney quotes: My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.

My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The murder of Sean Brown hurt my soul.

The murder of Sean Brown hurt my soul.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.

Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure
The bastion of sensation. Do not waver
Into language. Do not waver in it.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The way we are living, timorous or bold, will have been our life.

The way we are living, timorous or bold, will have been our life.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Let whoever can win glory before death.

Let whoever can win glory before death.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The poet is on the side of undeceiving the world.

The poet is on the side of undeceiving the world.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I'm not personally obsessed with death. At a certain age, the light that you live in is inhabited by the shades - it 'tis.

I'm not personally obsessed with death. At a certain age, the light that you live in is inhabited by the shades - it 'tis.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.

Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I think of the bog as a feminine goddess-ridden ground, rather like the territory of Ireland itself.

I think of the bog as a feminine goddess-ridden ground, rather like the territory of Ireland itself.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The faking of feelings is a sin against the imagination.

The faking of feelings is a sin against the imagination.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Be advised my passport's green.No glass of ours was ever raisedto toast the Queen.

Be advised my passport's green.
No glass of ours was ever raised
to toast the Queen.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Poetry is more a threshold than a path.

Poetry is more a threshold than a path.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Loyalism, or Unionism, or Protestantism, or whatever you want to call it, in Northern Ireland - it operates not as a class system, but a caste system.

Loyalism, or Unionism, or Protestantism, or whatever you want to call it, in Northern Ireland - it operates not as a class system, but a caste system.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.

Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Then I thought of the tribe whose dances never fail / For they keep dancing till they sight the deer.

Then I thought of the tribe whose dances never fail / For they keep dancing till they sight the deer.

Seamus Heaney quotes: One doesn't want one's identity coerced.

One doesn't want one's identity coerced.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The Ireland I now inhabit is one that these Irish contemporaries have helped to imagine.

The Ireland I now inhabit is one that these Irish contemporaries have helped to imagine.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I suppose you inevitably fall into habits of expression.

I suppose you inevitably fall into habits of expression.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I drink to keep body and soul apart.

I drink to keep body and soul apart.

Seamus Heaney quotes: In a way, Anglo-Saxon poetry cannot be translated.

In a way, Anglo-Saxon poetry cannot be translated.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Words ... To lure the tribal shoals to epigram / And order.

Words ... To lure the tribal shoals to epigram / And order.

Seamus Heaney quotes: If self is a location, so is love.

If self is a location, so is love.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The completely solitary self: that's where poetry comes from, and it gets isolated by crisis, and those crises are often very intimate also.

The completely solitary self: that's where poetry comes from, and it gets isolated by crisis, and those crises are often very intimate also.

Seamus Heaney quotes: By God, the old man could handle a spade.Just like his old man.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.

Seamus Heaney quotes: It's difficult to learn poems off by heart that don't rhyme.

It's difficult to learn poems off by heart that don't rhyme.

Seamus Heaney quotes: At home in Ireland, there's a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure.

At home in Ireland, there's a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Poetry is a domestic art, most itself when most at home.

Poetry is a domestic art, most itself when most at home.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I want away to the house of death, to my father under the low, clay roof.

I want away to the house of death, to my father under the low, clay roof.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I think childhood is, generally speaking, a preparation for disappointment.

I think childhood is, generally speaking, a preparation for disappointment.

Seamus Heaney quotes: God is a foreman with certain definite views Who orders life in shifts of work and leisure.

God is a foreman with certain definite views Who orders life in shifts of work and leisure.

Seamus Heaney quotes: The experiment of poetry, as far as I am concerned, happens when the poem carries you beyond where you could have reasonably expected to go.

The experiment of poetry, as far as I am concerned, happens when the poem carries you beyond where you could have reasonably expected to go.

Seamus Heaney quotes: To encounter 'Beowulf' is like taking a sledgehammer to a quarry face. You must bang in there.

To encounter 'Beowulf' is like taking a sledgehammer to a quarry face. You must bang in there.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Yeats was 18th-century oratory, almost.

Yeats was 18th-century oratory, almost.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I rhymeTo see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

I rhyme
To see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

Seamus Heaney quotes: A four foot box, a foot for every year.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.

Seamus Heaney quotes: There's never going to be a united Ireland, you know.

There's never going to be a united Ireland, you know.

Seamus Heaney quotes: Since when," he asked,"Are the first line and last line of any poemWhere the poem begins and ends?

Since when," he asked,
"Are the first line and last line of any poem
Where the poem begins and ends?

Seamus Heaney quotes: If poetry and the arts do anything, they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness.

If poetry and the arts do anything, they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness.

Seamus Heaney quotes: In poetry, everything can be faked but the intensity of utterance.

In poetry, everything can be faked but the intensity of utterance.

Seamus Heaney quotes: That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell.

That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell.

Seamus Heaney quotes: My passport's green.

My passport's green.

Seamus Heaney quotes: I shall gain glory or die.

I shall gain glory or die.