Quotes from George Oppen

It is not] the poet's business to use verse as an advanced form of rhetoric, nor to give to political statements the aura of eternal truth.

A poetry of the meaning of words And a bond with the universe I think there is no light in the world but the world And I think there is light

They used to advise young men to avoid gambling, drink, and women. And they were probably right in their time. But the single most important thing in the world today is not to read The New Yorker.

I think always about the thing in which we are. Among the things in it is force, power. It is not enough to say that we like it or that we do not like it. It is here, we must first talk about it. We are not shoppers—or we are not first of all shoppers; it is not enough to say that we like or we do not like—

Once the singing was and is

Poetry must be at least as powerful as music, but I am not sure that it is possible.

There are situations which cannot honorably be met by art.