I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat. I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God. David Whyte More Quotes by David Whyte More Quotes From David Whyte A good poem looks life straight in the face, unflinching, sincere, equal to revelation through loss or gain. David Whyte gains loss looks In England especially, poetry's woven into the background fabric of society. And in Ireland, it's in the foreground. The place of the poet in Irish society is enormous. If you say you're a poet in Ireland, you'd better know what you're doing, because the standard and the expectations are incredibly high. David Whyte fabric england expectations It is the province of poetry to be more realistic and present than the artificial narratives of an outer discourse, and not afraid of the truthful difficulty of the average human life. David Whyte truthful narrative average Poetry is a break for freedom. David Whyte break poetry-is A good poem has its own life. It's like bringing a child into the world. You, the poet, birthed the child, but the child will surprise you continually. I think a work of art has its own aliveness, its own future. David Whyte children art thinking Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless. David Whyte honesty-is where honesty humility We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming, as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due. David Whyte grow loss giving believe Sincere regret may be a faculty for paying attention to the future, for sensing a new tide where we missed a previous one, for experiencing timelessness with a grandchild where we neglected a boy of our own. David Whyte boy new future regret We're moving toward the kind of work world which has less security. But we hope it has more creativity and possibility of real engagement. David Whyte creativity hope work world Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story; we do not know where we are in the story. We do not know who, ultimately, is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end. David Whyte live end blame honesty Things have a way of being richer in the end, a product better made, for the circuitous route we take to include all the elements that are necessary for a job well done. David Whyte end better job way Poetry carries the imagery which is large enough for the kind of life we want for ourselves. David Whyte poetry enough want life Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness. David Whyte afraid honesty understanding truth To regret fully is to appreciate how high the stakes are in even the average human life; fully experienced, it turns our eyes, attentive and alert, to a future possibly lived better than our past. David Whyte eyes future regret life Poetry gives us courage and sets us straight with the world. Poems are great companions and friends. David Whyte great poetry courage world Stop trying to change reality by attempting to eliminate complexity. David Whyte stop change trying reality To admit regret is to understand that we are fallible - that there are powers beyond us. To admit regret is to lose control not only of a difficult past but of the very story we tell about our present. To admit sincere and abiding regret is one of our greatest but unspoken contemporary sins. David Whyte control understand regret past Questions that have no right to go away are those that have to do with the person we are about to become; they are conversations that will happen with or without our conscious participation. David Whyte person will questions go There are many tough conversations, but one of the most difficult is between a parent and an adolescent daughter, partly because as a parent we are almost always attempting to relate to someone who is no longer there. David Whyte someone tough daughter parent Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth. David Whyte hear honesty truth relationship
