Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

26 Notable Quotes By Elizabeth Bishop That Will Revive The Poet In You

Famous As: Poet
Born On: February 8, 1911
Died On: October 6, 1979
Born In: Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Died At Age: 68
Elizabeth Bishop was a well-known American poet, famous for her amusing style of writing poems. During her early days, she was interested in music and went to a music school in Massachusetts where she wrote some poems for the school magazine. Her stage fear compelled her to drop her dream of being a composer and turn to pursue a career in writing. During her college, she published some poems in the college magazine and was critically appreciated by her peers. This encouraged her to become a co-founder of the literary magazine ‘Con Spirito’. She met great poets like ‘Marianne Moore’ and ‘Robert Dowell’ and was inspired by them. Moore had a great influence on Bishop’s life and acted as her mentor, and also took great interest in her literary works. Although she is seen as a poet who wrote at her own pace and has not written more than 100 poems but her works fascinated the masses. She was honored with the ‘Pulitzer Prize’ for her poetry book ‘North and South’ and she also won the ‘National Book Award’ for poetry. Her thoughts, quotes, writings, poems and work still have a large readership. We bring to you a compilation of famous thoughts and quotes by Elizabeth Bishop.
Listed In:
The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seemed filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster

The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seemed filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster

Elizabeth Bishop
If after I read a poem the world looks like that poem for 24 hours or so I'm sure it's a good one—and the same goes for paintings.

If after I read a poem the world looks like that poem for 24 hours or so I'm sure it's a good one—and the same goes for paintings.

Elizabeth Bishop
All my life i have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper just running down the edges of different countries and continents, looking for something.

All my life i have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper just running down the edges of different countries and continents, looking for something.

Elizabeth Bishop
Oh, must we dream our dreams
and have them, too?

Oh, must we dream our dreams and have them, too?

Elizabeth Bishop
I was made at right angles to the world
and I see it so. I can only see it so.

I was made at right angles to the world and I see it so. I can only see it so.

Elizabeth Bishop
Open the book. (The gilt rubs off the edges of the pages and pollinates the fingertips.)

Open the book. (The gilt rubs off the edges of the pages and pollinates the fingertips.)

Elizabeth Bishop
Think of the long trip home. Should we have stayed home and thought of here? Where should we be today?

Think of the long trip home. Should we have stayed home and thought of here? Where should we be today?

Elizabeth Bishop
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.

Time to plant tears, says the almanac. The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove and the child draws another inscrutable house.

Elizabeth Bishop
Hoping to live days of greater happiness, I forget that days of less happiness are passing by.

Hoping to live days of greater happiness, I forget that days of less happiness are passing by.

Elizabeth Bishop
The armored cars of dreams, contrived to let us do so many a dangerous thing.

The armored cars of dreams, contrived to let us do so many a dangerous thing.

Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Elizabeth Bishop
All the untidy activity continues,
awful but cheerful.

All the untidy activity continues, awful but cheerful.

Elizabeth Bishop
Being a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs--no regular hours, so many temptations!

Being a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs--no regular hours, so many temptations!

Elizabeth Bishop
But they made me realize more than I ever had the rarity of true originality, and also the sort of alienation it might involve.

But they made me realize more than I ever had the rarity of true originality, and also the sort of alienation it might involve.

Elizabeth Bishop
...what the Man-Moth fears most he must do..

...what the Man-Moth fears most he must do..

Elizabeth Bishop
I knew that nothing stranger
had ever happened, that nothing
stranger could ever happen.

I knew that nothing stranger had ever happened, that nothing stranger could ever happen.

Elizabeth Bishop
One shouldn't get too involved with people who can't possibly understand one

One shouldn't get too involved with people who can't possibly understand one

Elizabeth Bishop
Icebergs behoove the soul (both being self-made from elements least visible) to see themselves: fleshed, fair, erected, indivisible.

Icebergs behoove the soul (both being self-made from elements least visible) to see themselves: fleshed, fair, erected, indivisible.

Elizabeth Bishop
--Even losing you (a joking voice, a gesture/ I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident/ the art of losing's not too hard to master/ though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

--Even losing you (a joking voice, a gesture/ I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident/ the art of losing's not too hard to master/ though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Elizabeth Bishop
Should we have stayed home and thought of here?

Should we have stayed home and thought of here?

Elizabeth Bishop
I leave a lovely opalescent ribbon: I know this.

I leave a lovely opalescent ribbon: I know this.

Elizabeth Bishop
Love's the son
stood stammering elocution
while the poor ship in flames went down

Love's the son stood stammering elocution while the poor ship in flames went down

Elizabeth Bishop
You are you and you are going to be YOU forever.

You are you and you are going to be YOU forever.

Elizabeth Bishop
Well, the cat is flourishing and gets more spoiled and more beautiful every day. His whiskers measure, from tip to tip, including his mouth and nose, of course, ten inches, pure white whale bone.

Well, the cat is flourishing and gets more spoiled and more beautiful every day. His whiskers measure, from tip to tip, including his mouth and nose, of course, ten inches, pure white whale bone.

Elizabeth Bishop
Screen porch in a tree.

Screen porch in a tree.

Elizabeth Bishop