Mary Oliver: Trending quotes

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Mary Oliver: 196 quotes53 likes

“It is better for the heart to break, than not to break.”

Mary Oliver

“the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own”

Mary Oliver

“And that is just the point… how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. "Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?”

Mary Oliver

“I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us…”

Mary Oliver

Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2

“But also I say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it’s done right, is a kind of holiness.”

Mary Oliver

"Poppies"
Blue Iris (2004)

“And now I understand something so frightening, and wonderful — how the mind clings to the road it knows, rushing through crossroads, sticking like lint to the familiar.”

Mary Oliver

"Robert Schumann"
Dream Work (1986)
Source: Blue Pastures

“I know many lives worth living.”

Mary Oliver

“Also I wanted to be able to love
And we all know how that one goes, don't we?
Slowly”

Mary Oliver

Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

“Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe
that I do not want it. Now I understand
why the old poets of China went so far and high
into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Why I Wake Early

“Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?”

Mary Oliver

“Love, love, love, says Percy.
And hurry as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.”

Mary Oliver

“Emerson, I am trying to live, as you said we must, the examined life. But there are days I wish there was less in my head to examine, not to speak of the busy heart.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Red Bird

“And to tell the truth I don't want to let go of the wrists of idleness, I don't want to sell my life for money, I don't even want to come in out of the rain.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Blue Iris: Poems and Essays

“It's not a competition, it's a doorway.”

Mary Oliver

“And now you'll be telling stories
of my coming back
and they won't be false, and they won't be true
but they'll be real”

Mary Oliver

Source: A Thousand Mornings

“You may not agree, you may not care, but
if you are holding this book you should know that of all the sights I love in this world — and there are plenty — very near the top of the list is this one: dogs without leashes.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Dog Songs

“My work is the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird - equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums…”

Mary Oliver

"Messenger"
Variant: My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird — equal seekers of sweetness
Source: Thirst (2006)