“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.”
“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
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
Life, p. 6
Collected Poems (1993)
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Emily Dickinson 187
American poet 1830–1886Related quotes
Statement in The Spectator (1711), as quoted in The Reign of Queen Anne (1902) by Justin McCarthy
Misattributed
No. 1 (1 March 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Source: Rent: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical
“I want, I don’t want.
How can one live with such a heart?”
Source: Selected Poems II: 1976 - 1986
"A Chance Meeting"; first published in The Atlantic Monthly (1933)
Not Under Forty (1936)
“I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.”
Introduction to The Story of the Stone, Vol. 1: 'The Golden Days' (1973), p. 46
Preface to The Golden Days, 1973