“I have seen these ways of God: I know of no reason
For fire and change and torture and the old returnings.”

"Apology for Bad Dreams" in The Women at Point Sur (1927)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I have seen these ways of God: I know of no reason For fire and change and torture and the old returnings." by Robinson Jeffers?
Robinson Jeffers photo
Robinson Jeffers 59
American poet 1887–1962

Related quotes

Roméo Dallaire photo
Stephen Vincent Benét photo
Barack Obama photo

“I've seen how a spirit of unity, born of tragedy, can gradually dissipate, overtaken by the return to business as usual, by inertia and old habits and expediency. I see how easily we slip back into our old notions, because they’re comfortable, we’re used to them. I’ve seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2016, Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers (July 2016)
Context: I've seen how a spirit of unity, born of tragedy, can gradually dissipate, overtaken by the return to business as usual, by inertia and old habits and expediency. I see how easily we slip back into our old notions, because they’re comfortable, we’re used to them. I’ve seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change. I’ve seen how inadequate my own words have been. And so I’m reminded of a passage in *John’s Gospel [First John]: Let us love not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. If we’re to sustain the unity we need to get through these difficult times, if we are to honor these five outstanding officers who we’ve lost, then we will need to act on the truths that we know. And that’s not easy. It makes us uncomfortable. But we’re going to have to be honest with each other and ourselves.

Georges Bataille photo

“In prison, I found out who God really was, who He is, and that too took some time. I had seen God as an arbitrary rule maker. He made His rules the same way my parents did. The reason was "Because I said so!"”

Sean Sellers (1969–1999) American murderer

But that was a false image of God. The way Anton LaVey saw God also affected his view of Satan.
Open Letter To Satanists

Bill Maher photo
Billy Joel photo

“She's got a way about her
I don't know what it is.
But I know that I can't live without her.
She's got a way of pleasin'
I don't know what it is
But there doesn't have to be a reason anyway.”

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

She's Got a Way.
Song lyrics, Cold Spring Harbor (1971)

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley photo

“I doubt not but the fire illuminating heaven on Michelmas eve was seen there – such as I never saw for the time more fearful. God sendeth us such signs but for our erudition.”

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520–1598) English statesman

Letter to Sir Francis Walsingham, c. 1573-76.
Conyers Read, Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth (London: Jonathan Cape, 1960), p. 155.

Elinor Glyn photo

“Would you please publish the enclosed manuscript or return it without delay, as I have other irons in the fire.”

Elinor Glyn (1864–1943) British novelist and scriptwriter

A covering note sent with a manuscript submission, which was supposedly returned with the answer, "Put this with your other irons." The same story had much earlier been told about Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Piozzi in Kate Sanborn Home Pictures of English Poets (New York: Appleton, 1869) p. 215.
Misattributed

Muhammad Iqbál photo

“Muhammad of Arabia ascended the highest Heaven and returned. I swear by God that if I had reached that point, I should never have returned.”

Muhammad Iqbál (1877–1938) Urdu poet and leader of the Pakistan Movement

These are the words of a great Muslim saint, 'AbdulQuddës of Gangoh. In the whole range of Sufi literature it will be probably difficult to find words which, in a single sentence, disclose such an acute perception of the psychological difference between the prophetic and the mystic types of consciousness. The mystic does not wish to return from the repose of "unitary experience"; and even when he does return, as he must, his return does not mean much for mankind at large.
Source: The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam http://www.allamaiqbal.com/works/prose/english/reconstruction/index.htm

Related topics