Quotes from Emily Dickinson

Victory comes late, And is held low to freezing lips Too rapt with frost To take it.

And I, could I stand by And see you freeze, Without my right of frost, Death's privilege?

There's nothing wicked in Shakespeare, and if there is I don't want to know it.

How glad I am that spring has come, and how it calms my mind when wearied with study to walk out in the green fields and beside the pleasant streams in which South Hadley is rich! ... The older I grow, the more do I love spring and spring flowers. Is it not so with you? (May 16, 1848 to Abiah Root)

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain ; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

That it will never come again is what makes life sweet

Houses—so the Wise Men tell me— Mansions! Mansions must be warm! Mansions cannot let the tears in, Mansions must exclude the storm! Many Mansions, by his Father, I don't know him; snugly built! Could the Children find the way there— Some, would even trudge tonight!

The Martyr Poets The Martyr Poets — did not tell — But wrought their Pang in syllable — That when their mortal name be numb — Their mortal fate — encourage Some — The Martyr Painters — never spoke — Bequeathing — rather — to their Work That when their conscious fingers cease — Some seek in Art — the Art of Peace —

Elysium is as far as to The very nearest Room If in that Room a Friend await Felicity or doom. What fortitude the soul contains That it can so endure The accent of a coming foot, The opening of a door?

Sweet hours have perished here; This is a mighty room; Within its precincts hopes have played,— Now shadows in the tomb.

Volcanoes be in Sicily And South America I judge from my Geography– Volcanoes nearer here A lava step at any time Am I inclined to climb– A Crater I may contemplate Vesuvius at Home.

Undue significance a starving man attaches to food Far off ; he sighs, and therefore hopeless, And therefore good. Partaken, it relieves indeed, but proves us That spices fly In the receipt. It was the distance Was savory.

None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball...

It was not Death, for I stood up, And all the Dead, lie down— It was not Night, for all the Bells Put out their Tongues, for Noon.

Nor was I hungry - so I found That Hunger - was a way Of Persons outside Windows The Entering - takes away.

I hide myself within my flower, That wearing on your breast, You, unsuspecting, wear me too — And angels know the rest.

So from the mould Scarlet and Gold Many a Bulb will rise -- Hidden away, cunningly, From sagacious eyes. So from Cocoon Many a Worm Leap so Highland gay, Peasants like me -- Peasants like Thee, Gaze perplexedly!

Piangere è una piccola cosa - cosa tanto breve un sospiro. Ma cose di tale grandezza uccidono uomini e donne.

I breathed enough to learn the trick, And now, removed from air, I simulate the breath so well, That one, to be quite sure The lungs are stirless, must descend Among the cunning cells, And touch the pantomime himself. How cool the bellows feels!

1058 Bloom—is Result—to meet a Flower And casually glance Would scarcely cause one to suspect The minor Circumstance Assisting in the Bright Affair So intricately done Then offered as a Butterfly To the Meridian— To pack the Bud—oppose the Worm— Obtain its right of Dew— Adjust the Heat—elude the Wind— Escape the prowling Bee Great Nature not to disappoint Awaiting Her that Day— To be a Flower, is profound Responsibility—

A heaven in a gaze, A heaven of heavens, the privilege Of one another's eyes.

I tell you, it is a Suffering, to have a sea - no care how Blue - between your Soul, and you.

Not "Revelation" – tis – that waits But our unfurnished eyes –

I had no time to hate, because The grave would hinder me, And life was not so ample I Could finish enmity. Nor had I time to love ; but since Some industry must be, The little toil of love, I thought, Was large enough for me.