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A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.

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
Poem
Joke
Jokes
Serious
Learned
Truth
Jujitsu
Crafts

More quotes by 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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And the things you know before you hear them these are you and the reason you are in the world.
William Stafford
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A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
William Stafford
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It is as if the ordinary language we use every day has a hidden set of signals, a kind of secret code.
William Stafford
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The earth says have a place, be what that place requires hear the sound the birds imply and see as deep as ridges go behind each other.
William Stafford
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So, the world happens twice-- once what we see it as second it legends itself deep, the way it is.
William Stafford
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Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.
William Stafford
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I have woven a parachute out of everything broken.
William Stafford
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You can treat experience as a set of surprises on which to exercise your quirky self.
William Stafford
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They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, Who are you really, wanderer?-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: Maybe I'm a king.
William Stafford
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Even the upper end of the river believes in the ocean.
William Stafford
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Wisdom is having things right in your life and knowing why.
William Stafford
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You shouldn't have standards that inhibit you from writing It really doesn't make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you've done it.
William Stafford
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Let the bucket of memory down into the well, bring it up. Cool, cool minutes. No one stirring, no plans. Just being there.
William Stafford
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When the snake decided to go straight, he didn't get anywhere.
William Stafford
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I'll be Pavlov, you be the dog.
William Stafford
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You can lie at a banquet but you have to be honest in the kitchen.
William Stafford
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You were aimed from birth: you will never be alone... The whole wide world pours down.
William Stafford
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If you purify the pond, the lilies die
William Stafford
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A writer is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things.
William Stafford