“I sit in my tree
I sing like the birds
My beak is my pen
My songs are my poems.”
David Almond book My Name Is Mina
Source: My Name Is Mina
In Herbert F. Vetter, " Not The Average Philosopher http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/hartshorne.html", Harvard Magazine, May/June 1997, Volume 99, Number 5. Vetter was surprised by this, given Hartshorne's dozens of substantial books on theology.
“I sit in my tree
I sing like the birds
My beak is my pen
My songs are my poems.”
David Almond book My Name Is Mina
Source: My Name Is Mina
“I don't sing a song without it meaning something to me, or adding my own interpretation to them.”
Jack Vidgen (1997) Australian singer
Jack Vidgen Inspire Interview http://www.girl.com.au/jack-vidgen-inspire-interview.htm, May 2012.
“A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
Although it appears on U.S. postage featuring Angelou, this is actually a variant quote from the work of poet Joan Walsh Anglund. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Postal Service releases Maya Angelou stamp with quote from another author, Josh Hicks, 7 April 2015, Washington Post, 9 April 2015 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/04/07/postal-serves-releases-maya-angelou-stamp-with-quote-from-another-author/,
Julian (emperor) (331–363) Roman Emperor, philosopher and writer
Julian, on the songs of the early Germans. As quoted in his Mispogon.
General sources
“A bird doesn't sing because he has an answer, he sings because he has a song”
Joan Walsh Anglund (1926) American poet and children's book author
The quote has been misattributed to Maya Angelou at times, including on U.S. postage.
This quote by Joan Walsh Anglund (1967 in her book, A Cup of Sun) has been widely used by Maya Angelou without attribution to Walsh Walsh Anglund, and wrongly misattributed to Maya Angelou many, many times, including on U.S. postage. However, the quote belongs to Joan Walsh Anglund, and is from her book "A Cup of Sun" published in 1967. However, Maya Angelou changed the pronoun "He" to "It" but quoted everything else of Joan Walsh Anglund. Why Maya Angelou never attributed her most famous quote as being Joan Walsh Anglund's is still a mystery to this day.
Source: A Cup of Sun: A Book of Poems (1967)
“How can a bird that is born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing?”
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
Robert Browning (1812–1889) English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era
Stanza xix.
One Word More (1855)