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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
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William Stafford
Age: 79 †
Born: 1914
Born: January 17
Died: 1993
Died: August 28
Author
Poet
Writer
Hutchinson
Kansas
Security
Character
May
Compass
Might
North
Way
Count
Would
Compassion
Like
People
Says
More quotes by William Stafford
Anyone who breathes is in the rhythm business.
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If you can say it, it begins to exist.
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Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.
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When a goat likes a book, the whole book is gone, and the meaning has to go find an author again.
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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.
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So, the world happens twice-- once what we see it as second it legends itself deep, the way it is.
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A student comes to me with a piece of writing, holds it out, says, 'Is this good?' A whole sequence of emergencies goes off in my mind. That's not a question to ask anyone but yourself.
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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.
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The signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-/should be clear/the darkness around us is deep.
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When the snake decided to go straight, he didn't get anywhere.
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People wander about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread.
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Wisdom is having things right in your life and knowing why.
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A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
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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.
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If you purify the pond, the lilies die
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I embrace emerging experience, I participate in discovery. I am a butterfly. I am not a butterfly collector. I want the experience of the butterfly.
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The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them — those are you, those are why you are in the world.
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There is no such thing as writer's block for writers whose standards are low enough.
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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.
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Once we have tasted far streams, touched the gold, found some limit beyond the waterfall, a season changes and we come back changed but safe, quiet, grateful.
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