William Butler Yeats

And say my glory was I had such friends.

Accursed who brings to light of day the writings I have cast away.

We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us.

Why should we honour those that die upon the field of battle? A man may show as reckless a courage in entering into the abyss of himself.

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

I have believed the best of every man. And find that to believe is enough to make a bad man show him at his best, or even a good man swings his lantern higher.

I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love.

Designs in connection with postage stamps and coinage may be described, I think, as the silent ambassadors on national taste.

I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood - sex and the dead.

A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love.

Talent perceives differences; genius, unity.

Nor dread nor hope attend a dying animal; a man awaits his end dreading and hoping all.

You that would judge me, do not judge alone this book or that, come to this hallowed place where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon; Ireland's history in their lineaments trace; think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was I had such friends.

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all like an opera.

Take, if you must, this little bag of dreams, Unloose the cord, and they will wrap you round.

When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.

The only business of the head in the world is to bow a ceaseless obeisance to the heart.

I am of a healthy long lived race, and our minds improve with age.

But was there ever dog that praised his fleas?

Once you attempt legislation upon religious grounds, you open the way for every kind of intolerance and religious persecution.

Be secret and exult, Because of all things known That is most difficult.

One should not lose one's temper unless one is certain of getting more and more angry to the end.

I think it better that in times like these a poet's mouth be silent, for in truth we have no gift to set a statesman right.

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

Irish poets, learn your trade, sing whatever is well made, scorn the sort now growing up all out of shape from toe to top.

In dreams begins responsibility.

An intellectual hatred is the worst.

I balanced all, brought all to mind, the years to come seemed waste of breath, a waste of breath the years behind, in balance with this life, this death.

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing for every tatter in its mortal dress.

Cast your mind on other days that we in coming days may be still the indomitable Irishry.

Choose your companions from the best; Who draws a bucket with the rest soon topples down the hill.

This melancholy London - I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air.

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. O when may it suffice?

A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, our stitching and unstitching has been naught.

Think where man's glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.

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

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!

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

The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.

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

The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone.

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions.

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

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

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

Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.