“There's a time for reciting poems and a time for fists. As far as I was concerned, this was the latter.”

—  Roberto Bolaño , book The Savage Detectives

Variant: There is a time for reciting poems and a time for fists.
Source: The Savage Detectives

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There's a time for reciting poems and a time for fists. As far as I was concerned, this was the latter." by Roberto Bolaño?
Roberto Bolaño photo
Roberto Bolaño 49
Chilean author 1953–2003

Related quotes

Edward Hirsch photo

“The poem is an original and unique creation, but it is reading and recitation: participation.”

Edward Hirsch (1950)

How to Read a Poem And Fall in Love with Poetry (1998)

“Reciting a poem aloud, you are not like an actor, rather you come to understand, then to be, the voice of the poem itself.”

John Hollander (1929–2013) American poet
Nina Simone photo

“You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.”

Nina Simone (1933–2003) American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist
Alice A. Bailey photo

“The science of inoculation is purely physical in origin, and concerns only the animal body. This latter science will shortly be superseded by a higher technique, but the time is not yet.”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

Source: A Treatise on the Seven Rays: Volume 4: Esoteric Healing (1953), Vaccines, p. 322/4

“I write the whole poem at one sitting and then come back to it from time to time over the months or years and rework it.”

A.R. Ammons (1926–2001) American poet

Paris Review interview (1996)
Context: I’ve always been highly energized and have written poems in spurts. From the god-given first line right through the poem. And I don’t write two or three lines and then come back the next day and write two or three more; I write the whole poem at one sitting and then come back to it from time to time over the months or years and rework it.

Sherman Alexie photo

“If I wasn't writing poems, I'd be washing my hands all the time.”

Sherman Alexie (1966) Native American author and filmmaker

“Although in practice innovative coding is hard to disentangle from innovative theorizing, the latter, over time, has a far greater impact than the former on how we perceive and interpret the world.”

Max Boisot (1943–2011) British academic and educator

Source: Information Space, 1995, p. 65

Jonathan Edwards photo

“It is evident from the Scripture, that there is yet remaining a great advancement of the interest of religion and the kingdom of Christ in this world, by an abundant outpouring of the Spirit of God, far greater and more extensive than ever yet has been. It is certain, that many things, which are spoken concerning a glorious time of the church’s enlargement and prosperity in the latter days, have never yet been fulfilled.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

An Humble Attempt To Promote Explicit Agreement And Visible Union Of God’s People In Extraordinary Prayer For The Revival Of Religion And The Advancement Of Christ’s Kingdom On Earth from Edwards, Jonathan, The works of Jonathan Edwards (Vol. 2, p. 278). Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1974.

Laxmi Prasad Devkota photo

“The amount I have learned till B. A, I believe in three years time i can put inside little children's mind better, reciting stories…”

Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909–1959) Nepali poet

शिक्षा (Education)

“Life is an ever-rolling wheel
And every day is the right one.
He who recites poems at his death
Adds frost to snow.”

Mumon Gensen (1323–1390)

Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6

Related topics