You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Mary Oliver More Quotes by Mary Oliver More Quotes From Mary Oliver I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed. Mary Oliver singingkindnessbelieve The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees - to learn something by being nothing Mary Oliver dreamlifelying Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath? Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden, and softly, and exclaiming of their dearness, fill your arms with the white and pink flowers, with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling, their eagerness to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are nothing, forever? Mary Oliver gardenflowerhumble Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled-to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world. I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery. I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing-that the light is everything-that it is more than the sum of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do. Mary Oliver firewhitebelieve We shake with joy, we shake with grief. Mary Oliver griefjoytwo You never know / What opportunity / Is going to travel to you, / Or through you. Mary Oliver knowsopportunity There are a hundred paths through the world that are easier than loving. But who wants easier? Mary Oliver marriageloveworld You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life. Mary Oliver responsibilitygivinglife You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Mary Oliver animalinspirationallove I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us. Mary Oliver stop-timewonderfulsometimes And I say to my heart: rave on. Mary Oliver enthusiasmheartlife Look, I want to love this world Mary Oliver teensalivehealing Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination. Mary Oliver wild-geeselonelyimagination And that is just the point... how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. "Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment? Mary Oliver morningbeautifulinspirational Praying It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak. Mary Oliver weedvoiceblue Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, Stay awhile. Mary Oliver naturetree Invention hovers always a little above the rules. Mary Oliver inventionlittles There are things you can’t reach. But You can reach out to them, and all day long. The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god. And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier. I look; morning to night I am never done with looking. Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around As though with your arms open. Mary Oliver morningnightmean We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it. Mary Oliver achebeautyneeds Sometimes I spend all day trying to count the leaves on a single tree... Of course I have to give up, but by then I'm half crazy with the wonder of it--the abundance of the leaves, the quietness of the branches, the hopelessness of my effort. And I am in that delicious and important place, roaring with laughter, full of earth-praise. Mary Oliver laughtergiving-upcrazy
