David Whyte
David Whyte
David Whytewas an English professional footballer who played as a striker...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
inspirational plans
What you plan is too small for you to live.
inspirational disappointment self
Being young and trying to catch a glimpse of the depths, of the true self, of the soul, or whatever human beings have called it over the centuries, we often find ourselves surrounded by bossy, hectoring voices trying to short-circuit our personal experience by super-imposing their own disappointments. Much of this bossiness masquerades as an education.
inspirational angel perfection
What we strive for in perfection is not what turns us into the lit angel we desire what disturbs and then nourishes has everything we need.
inspirational joy waiting
Inside everyone is a great shout of joy waiting to be born.
inspirational giving-up other-worlds
You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds Except the one in which you belong.
inspirational wholeheartedness antidote
The antidote to exhaustion isn't rest. It's wholeheartedness.
inspirational real thinking
Eventually we realize that not knowing what to do is just as real and just as useful as knowing what to do. Not knowing stops us from taking false directions. Not knowing what to do, we start to pay real attention. Just as people lost in the wilderness, on a cliff face or in a blizzard pay attention with a kind of acuity that they would not have if they thought they knew where they were. Why? Because for those who are really lost, their life depends on paying real attention. If you think you know where you are, you stop looking.
great poetry
The thing about great poetry is we have no defenses against it.
cannot convey courageous grown initial lion mouse naked parts power sounds speech steps wisdom
Lion sounds that have not grown from the mouse may exude naked power... but cannot convey any wisdom or understanding... The initial steps on the path to courageous speech then are the first tentative steps into the parts of us that cannot speak.
It is difficult to be creative and enthusiastic about anything for which we do not feel affection.
coming groups lead mostly poems retreats topics
I have hundreds of poems memorized. Mostly by others, but also my own. I use the poems when I lead retreats for management groups on topics like creating teams, or coming up with a more entrepreneurial system, or creating more excitement.
deal destinies living people personal simply struggles time trying vision work
I don't have an all-embracing vision which people have to buy. I'm simply trying to work with the struggles we all deal with every day while we're trying to live out our personal destinies and make a living at the same time.
apart broken exploded field great human prior promoted rise territory
One of the great difficulties as you rise up through an organisation is that your prior competencies are exploded and broken apart by the territory you've been promoted into: the field of human identity.
boy faculty future missed neglected paying previous sincere tide
Sincere regret may be a faculty for paying attention to the future, for sensing a new tide where we missed a previous one, for experiencing timelessness with a grandchild where we neglected a boy of our own.