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

100 Inspirational Quotes By W.B. Yeats That Will Give You New Perspective Of Life

Famous As: One of the Greatest English-Language Poets of the 20th Century and 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature Winner
Born On: June 13, 1865
Died On: January 28, 1939
Born In: Sandymount, Ireland
Died At Age: 73
 A list of the greatest Irish poets and litterateurs of all time cannot go without the mention of William Butler Yeats. A Nobel laureate, Yeats was an indomitable literary figure of the 20th century who eventually became a pillar of British and Irish literary establishments. He served as one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre and was a chief playwright until John Synge. Interestingly, though Yeats received Nobel Prize chiefly for his dramatic works, his significance today however rests on his lyric achievement. He is one of the few writers whose most prolific works came in after the coveted Nobel Prize. Yeats later works comprising of ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, ‘Michael Robartes and the Dancer’, ‘The Tower’, ‘The Winding Stair and Other Poems’ and ‘Last Poems and Plays’ made him one of the most outstanding and influential twentieth-century poets. Unlike other modernists of his era, Yeats was a master of traditional style. He used allusive imagery and symbolic structures throughout his life. His works are based on recurrent themes that are the contrast of art and life, physical and spiritual masks, cyclical theories of life and the ideal of beauty and ceremony contrasting with the hubbub of modern life. Even today, his poetry remains highly popular and has been repeatedly adapted and rediscovered by new literary and performance movements. However, the rich legacy of poetry is not the only thing that Yeats left behind after him. He also gave the world some of the most meaningful collection of quotes that have given readers a new perspective and a new vision to life and values. Explore this section and brief yourself.
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I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W B Yeats
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

W B Yeats
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.

For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon.

W B Yeats
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

W B Yeats
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

W B Yeats
A mermaid found a swimming lad, 
Picked him up for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.

A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him up for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown.

W B Yeats
Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

Faeries, come take me out of this dull world, For I would ride with you upon the wind, Run on the top of the dishevelled tide, And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

W B Yeats
Life is a long preparation for something that never happens.

Life is a long preparation for something that never happens.

W B Yeats
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." (Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven)

W B Yeats
What can be explained is not poetry.

What can be explained is not poetry.

W B Yeats
Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.

W B Yeats
WINE comes in at the mouth 
And love comes in at the eye; 
That's all we shall know for truth 
Before we grow old and die. 
I lift the glass to my mouth, 
I look at you, and sigh.

WINE comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and sigh.

W B Yeats
There is another world, but it is in this one.

There is another world, but it is in this one.

W B Yeats
Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.

W B Yeats
In dreams begin responsibilities.

In dreams begin responsibilities.

W B Yeats
Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet.

Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet.

W B Yeats
...I'm looking for the face I had, before the world was made...

...I'm looking for the face I had, before the world was made...

W B Yeats
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

W B Yeats
How many loved your moments of glad grace, 
 And loved your beauty with love false or true; 
 But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, 
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

W B Yeats
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

W B Yeats
There are no strangers, only friends you have not met yet.

There are no strangers, only friends you have not met yet.

W B Yeats
I bring you with reverent hands
The books of my numberless dreams.

I bring you with reverent hands The books of my numberless dreams.

W B Yeats
The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober.

The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober.

W B Yeats
To long a sacrifice can make a stone of a heart

To long a sacrifice can make a stone of a heart

W B Yeats
All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions.

All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions.

W B Yeats
Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold.

Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold.

W B Yeats
Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned
By those who are not entirely beautiful.

Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned By those who are not entirely beautiful.

W B Yeats
When you are old and grey and full of sleep 
 And nodding by the fire, take down this book, 
 And slowly read, and dream of the soft look 
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep

When you are old and grey and full of sleep And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep

W B Yeats
The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

W B Yeats
I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.

I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.

W B Yeats
We can only begin to live when we conceive life as
Tragedy.

We can only begin to live when we conceive life as Tragedy.

W B Yeats
Wine enters through the mouth,
Love, the eyes.
I raise the glass to my mouth,
I look at you,
I sigh.

Wine enters through the mouth, Love, the eyes. I raise the glass to my mouth, I look at you, I sigh.

W B Yeats
Myself I must remake.

Myself I must remake.

W B Yeats
Literature is always personal, always one man's vision of the world, one man's experience, and it can only be popular when men are ready to welcome the visions of others.

Literature is always personal, always one man's vision of the world, one man's experience, and it can only be popular when men are ready to welcome the visions of others.

W B Yeats
Everything exists, everything is true and the earth is just a bit of dust beneath our feet.

Everything exists, everything is true and the earth is just a bit of dust beneath our feet.

W B Yeats
We taste and feel and see the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it.

We taste and feel and see the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it.

W B Yeats
People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind.

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind.

W B Yeats
Hearts are not to be had as a gift, hearts are to be earned.

Hearts are not to be had as a gift, hearts are to be earned.

W B Yeats
I whispered, 'I am too young,' and then, 'I am old enough'; wherefore I threw a penny to find out if I might love.

I whispered, 'I am too young,' and then, 'I am old enough'; wherefore I threw a penny to find out if I might love.

W B Yeats
My wretched dragon is perplexed.

My wretched dragon is perplexed.

W B Yeats
Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.

Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.

W B Yeats
Love comes in at the eye.

Love comes in at the eye.

W B Yeats
Think where man's glory
Most begins and ends
And say my glory was
That I had such friends.

Think where man's glory Most begins and ends And say my glory was That I had such friends.

W B Yeats
It is so many years before one can believe enough in what one feels even to know what the feeling is

It is so many years before one can believe enough in what one feels even to know what the feeling is

W B Yeats
Out of Ireland have we come. 
Great hatred, little room,
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother's womb
A fanatic heart.

Out of Ireland have we come. Great hatred, little room, Maimed us at the start. I carry from my mother's womb A fanatic heart.

W B Yeats
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?

W B Yeats
It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield

It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield

W B Yeats
Sometimes my feet are tired and my hands are quiet, but there is no quiet in my heart.

Sometimes my feet are tired and my hands are quiet, but there is no quiet in my heart.

W B Yeats
One loses, as one grows older, something of the lightness of one's dreams; one begins to take life up in both hands, and to care more for the fruit than the flower, and that is no great loss perhaps.

One loses, as one grows older, something of the lightness of one's dreams; one begins to take life up in both hands, and to care more for the fruit than the flower, and that is no great loss perhaps.

W B Yeats
And softness came from the starlight and filled me full to the bone.

And softness came from the starlight and filled me full to the bone.

W B Yeats
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

W B Yeats
An intellectual hatred is the worst.

An intellectual hatred is the worst.

W B Yeats
Everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy kind of delight.

Everything that's lovely is But a brief, dreamy kind of delight.

W B Yeats
I kiss you and kiss you, With arms around my own, Ah, how shall I miss you, When, dear, you have grown.

I kiss you and kiss you, With arms around my own, Ah, how shall I miss you, When, dear, you have grown.

W B Yeats
The mystical life is at the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.

The mystical life is at the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.

W B Yeats
Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise.

Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise.

W B Yeats
Things fall apart;
the center cannot hold...

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold...

W B Yeats
God guard me from those thoughts men think
In the mind alone.

God guard me from those thoughts men think In the mind alone.

W B Yeats
Now that my ladder's gone,
I must lie down where all my ladders start,
In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.

Now that my ladder's gone, I must lie down where all my ladders start, In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.

W B Yeats
Where there is nothing, there is God.

Where there is nothing, there is God.

W B Yeats
What do we know but that we face one another in this place?

What do we know but that we face one another in this place?

W B Yeats
For he comes, the human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
From a world more full of weeping 
than he can understand.

For he comes, the human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, From a world more full of weeping than he can understand.

W B Yeats
Ecstasy is from the contemplation of things vaster than the individual and imperfectly seen perhaps, by all those that still live.

Ecstasy is from the contemplation of things vaster than the individual and imperfectly seen perhaps, by all those that still live.

W B Yeats
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
Oh, when may it suffice?

Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart. Oh, when may it suffice?

W B Yeats
When one gets quiet, then something wakes up inside one, something happy and quiet like the stars.

When one gets quiet, then something wakes up inside one, something happy and quiet like the stars.

W B Yeats
I am still of [the] opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood--sex and the dead.

I am still of [the] opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood--sex and the dead.

W B Yeats
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings.

W B Yeats
And I will find some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,/ Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings...

And I will find some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,/ Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings...

W B Yeats
The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

W B Yeats
I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.

I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.

W B Yeats
I think all happiness depends on the energy to assume the mask of some other life, on a re-birth as something not one's self.

I think all happiness depends on the energy to assume the mask of some other life, on a re-birth as something not one's self.

W B Yeats
For the winds that awakened the stars are blowing through my blood.

For the winds that awakened the stars are blowing through my blood.

W B Yeats
I went out to the hazelwood because a fire was in my head.

I went out to the hazelwood because a fire was in my head.

W B Yeats
The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life, or of the work
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

The intellect of man is forced to choose Perfection of the life, or of the work And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.

W B Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

W B Yeats
I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping...I hear it in the deep heart's core.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping...I hear it in the deep heart's core.

W B Yeats
A lonely impulse of delight

A lonely impulse of delight

W B Yeats
The blessed spirits must be sought within the self which is common to all

The blessed spirits must be sought within the self which is common to all

W B Yeats
Fairies in Ireland are sometimes as big as we are, sometimes bigger, and sometimes, as I have been told, about three feet high.

Fairies in Ireland are sometimes as big as we are, sometimes bigger, and sometimes, as I have been told, about three feet high.

W B Yeats
Cast a cold eye
on life, on death
Horseman pass by

Cast a cold eye on life, on death Horseman pass by

W B Yeats
We have fallen in the dreams the ever-living
Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world,
And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh.

We have fallen in the dreams the ever-living Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world, And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh.

W B Yeats
We had fed the heart on fantasies,
The heart's grown brutal from the fare, 
More substance in our enmities
Than in our love

We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart's grown brutal from the fare, More substance in our enmities Than in our love

W B Yeats
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;...

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;...

W B Yeats
I must lie down where all the ladders start, in the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.

I must lie down where all the ladders start, in the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.

W B Yeats
Time drops in decay
Like a candle burnt out.
And the mountains and woods
Have their day, have their day;
But, kindly old rout
Of the fire-born moods,
You pass not away.

Time drops in decay Like a candle burnt out. And the mountains and woods Have their day, have their day; But, kindly old rout Of the fire-born moods, You pass not away.

W B Yeats
The Irishman sustains himself during brief periods of joy by the knowledge that tragedy is just around the corner.

The Irishman sustains himself during brief periods of joy by the knowledge that tragedy is just around the corner.

W B Yeats
The tragedy of sexual intercourse is the perpetual virginity of the soul.

The tragedy of sexual intercourse is the perpetual virginity of the soul.

W B Yeats
Cuchulain stirred,
Stared on the horses of the sea, and heard
The cars of battle and his own name cried;
And fought with the invulnerable tide.

Cuchulain stirred, Stared on the horses of the sea, and heard The cars of battle and his own name cried; And fought with the invulnerable tide.

W B Yeats
Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all.

Nor dread nor hope attend A dying animal; A man awaits his end Dreading and hoping all.

W B Yeats
Hearts with one purpose alone/Through summer and winter seem/Enchanted to a stone/To trouble the living stream.

Hearts with one purpose alone/Through summer and winter seem/Enchanted to a stone/To trouble the living stream.

W B Yeats
I spit into the face of Time 
That has transfigured me.

I spit into the face of Time That has transfigured me.

W B Yeats
I hate journalists. There is nothing in them but tittering jeering emptiness.
They have all made what Dante calls the Great Refusal. The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.

I hate journalists. There is nothing in them but tittering jeering emptiness. They have all made what Dante calls the Great Refusal. The shallowest people on the ridge of the earth.

W B Yeats
I wish for you constantly for I want to talk about everybody and everything. I can't go up to a stranger & say 'your manners &looks have stirred me to this profound meditation'-

I wish for you constantly for I want to talk about everybody and everything. I can't go up to a stranger & say 'your manners &looks have stirred me to this profound meditation'-

W B Yeats
Man can embody the truth but he cannot know it.

Man can embody the truth but he cannot know it.

W B Yeats
How but in custom and in ceremony are innocence and beauty born?

How but in custom and in ceremony are innocence and beauty born?

W B Yeats
The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life, or of the work.

The intellect of man is forced to choose Perfection of the life, or of the work.

W B Yeats
BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart, 
The holy tree is growing there;

BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart, The holy tree is growing there;

W B Yeats
All the wild-witches, those most notable ladies
For all their broom-sticks and their tears,
Their angry tears, are gone.

All the wild-witches, those most notable ladies For all their broom-sticks and their tears, Their angry tears, are gone.

W B Yeats
The Light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed
The Shadow of Shadows looks on the deed alone.

The Light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed The Shadow of Shadows looks on the deed alone.

W B Yeats
Is it not certain that the Creator yawns in earthquake and thunder and other popular displays, but toils in rounding the delicate spiral of a shell?

-Yeats, The Trembling of the Veil

Is it not certain that the Creator yawns in earthquake and thunder and other popular displays, but toils in rounding the delicate spiral of a shell? -Yeats, The Trembling of the Veil

W B Yeats