Quotes from Edgar Lee Masters

But instead I mounted a little in life, And I owe it all to a book I read. But why did I go to Mason City, Where I chanced to see the book in a window, With its garish cover luring my eye? And why did my soul respond to the book, As I read it over and over?

In youth my wings were strong and tireless, But I did not know the mountains. In age I knew the mountains But my weary wings could nto follow my vision- Genius is wisdom and youth.

With shells from the river cover me, cover me. I lived in wonder, worshipping earth and heaven. I have passed on the march eternal of endless life.

Whenever the Presbyterian bell Was rung by itself, I knew it as the Presbyterian bell. But when its sound was mingled With the sound of the Methodist, the Christian, The Baptist and the Congregational, I could no longer distinguish it. Nor any one from the others, or either of them.

O world, that's you! You are but a widened place in the river Where Life looks down and we rejoice for her Mirrored in us, and so we dream And turn away

Che cosa vedi adesso? [...] Luce, solo luce, che trasforma tutto il mondo in giocattolo. Molto bene, faremo gli occhiali così.

The earth keeps some vibration going There in your heart, and that is you. And if the people find you can fiddle, why fiddle you must, for all your life.

Such phantom blossoms palely shining Over the lifeless boughs of Time.

To love is to find your own soul Through the soul of the beloved one.

The snows and the roses of yesterday are vanished; And what is love but a rose that fades?

It takes life to love life.

What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness, Anger, discontent and drooping hopes? Degenerate sons and daughters, Life is too strong for you— It takes life to love Life.

The Typical American? He is sent to school Little or much, where he imbibes the rule Of safety first and comfort; in his youth He joins the church and ends the quest of truth.

Why, a moral truth is a hollow tooth Which must be propped with gold.

He stripped off the armor of institutional friendships To dedictate his soul To the terrible deities of Truth and Beauty.

The mind sees the world as a thing apart, And the soul makes the world at one with itself. A mirror scratched reflects no image— And this is the silence of wisdom.

There is no marriage in Heaven, but there is love.

I have known the silence of the stars and of the sea. And the silence of the city when it pauses, And the silence of a man and a maid, And the silence for which music alone finds the word.

Many books have been written to show that Christianity has emasculated the world, that it shoved aside the enlightenment and wisdom of Hellas for a doctrine of superstition and ignorance.

Did I follow Truth wherever she led, And stand against the whole world for a cause, And uphold the weak against the strong? If I did I would be remembered among men.

Work for your own soul's sake.

Immortality is not a gift, Immortality is an achievement; And only those who strive mightily Shall possess it.