“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.”

— Emily Dickinson

Last update Nov. 19, 2021. History

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Emily Dickinson187

American poet 1830–1886

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“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
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I shall not live in vain.”

Emily Dickinson Life, and Death, and Giants —

Life, p. 6
Collected Poems (1993)

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“If I can anyway contribute to the diversion or improvement of the country in which I live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with the satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.”

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“Your heart literally hurts when it's breaking. You can feel it, every beat another ache, and nothing you can do will stop it, either from beating or breaking.”

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“If I can any way contribute to the diversion or improvement of the country in which I live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with the secret satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.”

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The Spectator (1711–1714)

“How many good male artists are there? The number of living artists I truly esteem I can put on one hand and I wouldn't even have to lift up all my fingers - and that breaks my heart.”

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“Hearts can break. Yes. Hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don't.”

Stephen King book Hearts in Atlantis

Source: Hearts in Atlantis (1999)

“To whom shall I hire myself out? What beast should I adore? What holy image is attacked? What hearts shall I break? What lies shall I uphold? In what blood tread?”

Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) French Decadent and Symbolist poet

Source: A Season in Hell/The Drunken Boat

“The mind-is not the heart.
I may yet live, as I know others live,
To wish in vain to let go with the mind-
Of cares, at night, to sleep; but nothing tells me
That I need learn to let go with the heart.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet

“I want, I don’t want.
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Source: Selected Poems II: 1976 - 1986

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