Mary Oliver: Quotes about love

Mary Oliver was American writer. Explore interesting quotes on love.
Mary Oliver: 196 quotes53 likes

“(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.”

Mary Oliver

Variant: Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.
Source: Thirst

“To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.”

Mary Oliver

"In Blackwater Woods"
American Primitive (1983)
Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

Mary Oliver

Dream Work (1986)
Source: "Wild Geese"

“You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

Mary Oliver

"Wild Geese"
Dream Work (1986)
Context: You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

“Two or three times in my life I discovered love.
Each time it seemed to solve everything.”

Mary Oliver

"Sometimes", § 5
Red Bird (2008)
Context: Two or three times in my life I discovered love.
Each time it seemed to solve everything.
Each time it solved a great many things
but not everything.
Yet left me as grateful as if it had indeed, and
thoroughly, solved everything.

“Love yourself. Then forget it.
Then, love the world.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Evidence: Poems

“I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out,
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall—
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.”

Mary Oliver

Source: A Thousand Mornings

“Listen, whatever you see and love—
that’s where you are.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Dog Songs

“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

“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

“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

“We meet wonderful people, but lose them
in our busyness.
We’re, as the saying goes, all over the place.
Steadfastness, it seems,
is more about dogs than about us.
One of the reasons we love them so much.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Dog Songs

“There are a hundred paths through the world that are easier than loving. But, who wants easier?”

Mary Oliver

Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1

“Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble.
A dog is a true and loving friend. A dog
is also a hedonist.”

Mary Oliver

Source: Dog Songs

“Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving”

Mary Oliver

Source: Why I Wake Early