Carl Sandburg Quotes

"I have always felt that a woman has the right to treat the subject of her age with ambiguity until, perhaps, she passes into the realm of over ninety. Then it is better she be candid with herself and with the world."

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."

"To be a good loser is to learn how to win."

"Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split the boulder."

"Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance."

"Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment."

"Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits."

"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way."

"The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring."

"In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning."

"If America forgets where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution."

"I'll die propped up in bed trying to do a poem about America."

"One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude"

"I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it."

"I've written some poetry I don't understand myself."

"Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away."

"Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child."

"Nothing happens unless first we dream."

"The impact of television on our culture is. . . indescribable. There's a certain sense in which it is nearly as important as the invention of printing."

"I feel like I'm drowning. Every night, I'm carrying home loads of things to read but I'm too exhausted. I keep clipping things and Xeroxing them and planning to read them eventually, but I just end up throwing it all away and feeling guilty."