Quote

I heard a bird congratulating itself all day for being a jay. Nobody cared. But it was glad all over again, and said so, again.

William Stafford

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William Stafford
Age: 79 †
Born: 1914
Born: January 17
Died: 1993
Died: August 28
Author
Poet
Writer
Hutchinson
Kansas
Congratulating
Cared
Glad
Bird
Nobody
Heard

More quotes by William Stafford

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The root and the flower have to trust each other. If the root does not trust, the plant won't blossom.
William Stafford
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It's love,' they say. You touch the right one and a whole half of the universe wakes up, a new half.
William Stafford
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My question is when did other people give up the idea of being a poet? You know, when we are kids we make up things, we write, and for me the puzzle is not that some people are still writing, the real question is why did the other people stop?
William Stafford
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You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self.
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A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
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I'll be Pavlov, you be the dog.
William Stafford
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It is this impulse to change the quality of experience that I recognize as central to creation. . . . Out of all that could be done, you choose one thing. What that one thing is, nothing else can tell you--you come at it over unmarked snow.
William Stafford
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There is no such thing as writer's block for writers whose standards are low enough.
William Stafford
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One way to find your place is like the rain, a million requests for lodging, one that wins, finds your cheek: you find your home.
William Stafford
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People wander about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread.
William Stafford
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Keep a journal, and don't assume that your work has to accomplish anything worthy: artists and peace-workers are in it for the long haul, and not to be judged by immediate results.
William Stafford
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Literature is not a picture of life, but is a separate experience with its own kind of flow and enhancement.
William Stafford
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The ocean and I have many pebbles To find and wash off and roll into shape.
William Stafford
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Others may be able to accept standards from another, but an artist is a person who decides.
William Stafford
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You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about
William Stafford
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Please think about this as you go on. Breathe on the world. Hold out your hands to it. When morning and evenings roll along, watch how they open and close, how they invite you to the long party that your life is.
William Stafford
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Wisdom is having things right in your life and knowing why.
William Stafford
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I have woven a parachute out of everything broken.
William Stafford
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There are so many things admirable people do not understand.
William Stafford
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Security of character would be like a compass, you know? Other people may say that this way is north, or this way might be north. But the compass just says -- north. That's what we count on.
William Stafford