Quotes from Mary Oliver

I believe in kindness. Also in mischief.

I'd rather write about polar bears than people.

Instead of taking the reader by the hand and running him down the hill, I want to lead him into a house of many rooms, and leave him alone in each of them.

Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees - to learn something by being nothing

I have the feeling that a lot of poets writing now are - they sort of tap dance through it.

Don't we all die someday and someday comes all too soon? What will you do with your own wild, glorious chance at this thing we call life.

There were times over the years when life was not easy, but if you're working a few hours a day and you've got a good book to read, and you can go outside to the beach and dig for clams, you're okay.

I want to be braver and more honest about my life. When you're sexually abused, there's a lot of damage.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I stayed where I was happy.

Sometimes breaking the rules is extending the rules.

The three ingredients of poetry: the mystery of the universe, spiritual curiosity, the energy of language.

A lifetime isn't long enough for the beauty of this world and the responsibilities of your life.

Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?

I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place. Yet each has its own force.

I like books that are fat and full.

I acknowledge my feeling and gratitude for life by praising the world and whoever made all these things.

Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born.

What can we do but keep on breathing in and out, modest and willing, and in our places?

I think one thing is that prayer has become more useful, interesting, fruitful, and... almost involuntary in my life.

I worked probably 25 years by myself, just writing and working, not trying to publish much, not giving readings.

Do you cherish your humble and silky life?

Life is much the same when it's going well-- resonant and unremarkable. But who, not under disaster's seal, can understand what life is like when it begins to crumble?