It is fatal to decide, intellectually, what good poetry is because you are then in honour bound to try to write it, instead of the poems that only you can write. Philip Larkin More Quotes by Philip Larkin More Quotes From Philip Larkin I have no enemies. But my friends don't like me. Philip Larkin dont-like-melike-meenemy Poetry should begin with emotion in the poet, and end with the same emotion in the reader. The poem is simply the instrument of transferance. Philip Larkin emotionpoetryends How little our careers express what lies in us, and yet how much time they take up. It's sad, really. Philip Larkin careerslittleslying I feel the only thing you can do about life is to preserve it, by art if you're an artist, by children if you're not. Philip Larkin life-ischildrenart As a child, I thought I hated everybody, but when I grew up I realized it was just children I didn't like. Philip Larkin grewhatedchildren I'm terrified of the thought of time passing (or whatever is meant by that phrase) whether I 'do' anything or not. In a way I may believe, deep down, that doing nothing acts as a brake on 'time's - it doesn't of course. It merely adds the torment of having done nothing, when the time comes when it really doesn't matter if you've done anything or not. Philip Larkin phrasesaddbelieve What will survive of us is love. Philip Larkin inspirational-loveromanticdeath Sexual intercourse began in 1963 ... / Between the end of the Chatterley ban/ and the Beatles first LP Philip Larkin bansendsfirsts I have a sense of melancholy isolation, life rapidly vanishing, all the usual things. It's very strange how often strong feelings don't seem to carry any message of action Philip Larkin strongusualfeelings Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, and don't have any kids yourself. Philip Larkin menkidshands Novels are about other people and poems are about yourself. Philip Larkin about-yourselfpoetrypeople Selflessness is like waiting in a hospital Philip Larkin firemorninglove A good poem about failure is a success. Philip Larkin Death: the anaesthetic from which none come round. Philip Larkin roundsdeath So many things I had thought forgotten Return to my mind with stranger pain: Like letters that arrive addressed to someone Who left the house so many years ago. Philip Larkin painhouseyears He married a woman to stop her getting away Now she's there all day. Philip Larkin get-awaymarriedmarriage Many modern novels have a beginning, a muddle and an end. Philip Larkin modern-novelendswriting I don't think I write well - just better than anyone else. Philip Larkin wellswritingthinking It's easy to write when you've nothing to write about Philip Larkin youngeasywriting I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any - after all, most people are unhappy, don't you think? Philip Larkin writingpeoplethinking
