Quotes by William Butler Yeats

“he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.”

“Id as soon listen to dried peas in a bladder, as listen to your thoughts.”

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you havent yet met.”

“Evil comes to all us men of imagination wearing as its mask all the virtues.”

“If suffering brings wisdom, I would wish to be less wise.”

“How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.”

“The wind blows out of the gates of the day, The wind blows over the lonely of heart, And the lonely of heart is withered away”

“Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.”

“I heard the old, old, men say all thats beautiful drifts away, like the waters”

“A mermaid found a swimming lad,Picked him for her own,Pressed her body to his body,Laughed; and plunging downForgot in cruel happinessThat even lovers drown.”

Style personality - deliberately adopted and therefore a mask - is the only escape from the hot-faced bargainers and money-changers.

The best lack all conviction while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober.

Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.

No man has ever lived that had enough of childrens gratitude or womans love.

Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart.

Joy is the will which labours which overcomes obstacles which knows triumph.

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind.

The intellect of man is forced to choose Perfection of the life or of the work.

Joy is the will which labors which overcomes obstacles which knows triumph.