William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeatswas an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth13 June 1865
CitySandymount, Ireland
CountryIreland
An intellectual hatred is the worst.
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!
Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die.
The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone.
All that I have said and done, Now that I am old and ill, Turns into a question till I lie awake night after night And never get the answers right.
Take, if you must, this little bag of dreams, Unloose the cord, and they will wrap you round.
Any fool can fight a winning battle, but it needs character to fight a losing one, and that should inspire us; which reminds me that I dreamed the other night that I was being hanged, but was the life and soul of the party.
The Irishman sustains himself during brief periods of joy by the knowledge that tragedy is just around the corner.
Wine enters through the mouth, Love, the eyes. I raise the glass to my mouth, I look at you, I sigh.
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
Choose your companions from the best; Who draws a bucket with the rest soon topples down the hill.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.