God is a foreman with certain definite views Who orders life in shifts of work and leisure. Seamus Heaney More Quotes by Seamus Heaney More Quotes From Seamus Heaney Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. Seamus Heaney conviction optimism wells Believe that a further shore Seamus Heaney i-forgive-you shore believe Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained. Seamus Heaney ifs hope I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world. Seamus Heaney understanding people thinking No bit of the natural world is more valuable or more vulnerable than the tree bit. Nothing is more like ourselves, standing upright, caught between heaven and earth, frail at the extremities, yet strong at the central trunk, and nothing is closer to us at the beginning and at the end, providing the timber boards that frame both the cradle and the coffin. Seamus Heaney strong tree heaven If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way. Seamus Heaney chance ifs way History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme Seamus Heaney once-in-a-lifetime sides justice Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done. Seamus Heaney epic-poems mind two Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it. Seamus Heaney mysterious poetry-is wonder I drink to keep body and soul apart. Seamus Heaney drink body soul Not to Learn Irish is to miss the opportunity of understanding what life in this country has meant and could mean in a better future. It is to cut oneself off from ways of being at home. If we regard self-understanding, mutual understanding, imaginative enhancement, cultural diversity and a tolerant political atmosphereas a desirable attainments, we should remember that a knowledge of the Irish language is an essential element in their realisation. Seamus Heaney home mean country I have begun to think of life as a series of ripples widening out from an original center. Seamus Heaney ripple originals thinking Even if the last move did not succeed, the inner command says move again. Seamus Heaney succeed lasts moving Don't be surprised if I demur, for, be advised my passport's green. Seamus Heaney passports green ifs The end of art is peace. Seamus Heaney art-is ends art Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started. Seamus Heaney fundamentals memories way All I know is a door into the dark Seamus Heaney dark knows doors At home in Ireland, there's a habit of avoidance, an ironical attitude towards the authority figure. Seamus Heaney figure-skating home attitude The way we are living, timorous or bold, will have been our life. Seamus Heaney our-lives has-beens way The gift of writing is to be self-forgetful... to get a surge of inner life or inner supply or unexpected sense of empowerment, to be afloat, to be out of yourself. Seamus Heaney empowerment self writing
