John Ashbery Professions : Poet Born : July 28, 1927 Browse All Authors Top 91 quotes by John Ashbery Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you, At incredible speed, traveling day and night. John Ashbery incredibles night life I think that in the process of writing, all kinds of unexpected things happen that shift the poet away from his plan and that these accidents are really what we mean when we talk about poetry. John Ashbery writing mean thinking Not until it starts to stink does the inevitable happen. John Ashbery stink events doe In the evening John Ashbery evening schedules ifs I feel that poetry is going on all the time inside, an underground stream. John Ashbery streams healing feels Once you've lived in France, you don't want to live anywhere else, including France. John Ashbery including france want This whole moment is the groin John Ashbery sleep inspirational life I always thought that writing poetry was in itself a political act. John Ashbery writing-poetry political writing All beauty, resonance, integrity, John Ashbery integrity inspirational life There is the view that poetry should improve your life. I think people confuse it with the Salvation Army. John Ashbery army inspirational life The soul is not a soul, John Ashbery soul secret life Life is not at all what you might think it to be John Ashbery inspirational life thinking I don't want to read what is going to slide down easily; there has to be some crunch, a certain amount of resilience. John Ashbery resilience slides want And we may be led, then, upward through more John Ashbery powerful country art What I like about music is its ability to be convincing, to carry an argument through successfully to the finish, though the terms of the argument remain unknown quantities. John Ashbery argument ability music The facts of history have been too well rehearsed. John Ashbery wells history facts One listens to a piece of great music, say, and feels deeply moved by it, and wants to put this feeling into words, but it can't be put into words. That's what - the music has already supplied the meaning, and words will just be superfluous after that. But it's that kind of verbal meaning that can't be verbalized that I try to get at in poetry. John Ashbery kind feelings trying But always and sometimes questioning the old modes John Ashbery demand growing-up life I would like to please the reader, and I think that surprise has to be an element of this, and that may necessitate a certain amount of teasing. To shock the reader is something else again. That has to be handled with great care if you're not going to alienate and hurt him, and I'm firmly against that, just as I disapprove of people who dress with that in mind - dye their hair blue and stick safety pins through their noses and so on. John Ashbery hurt hair thinking A yak is a prehistoric cabbage; of that, we can be sure. John Ashbery yaks prehistoric cabbage Similar Authors Abdellatif Laabi poet Ihara Saikaku poet Abram Joseph Ryan poet Ingeborg Bachmann poet Izumi Shikibu poet Bion of Smyrna poet All Authors