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Edith Sitwell
42 quotes
“Let us speak of our madness. We are always being called mad. If we are mad — we and our brothers in America who are walking hand in hand with us in the vanguard of progress — at least we are mad in company with most of our great predecessors and all the most intelligent foreigners. Beethoven, Schumann, and Wagner, Shelley, Blake, Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth were all mad in turn. We shall be proud to join them in the Asylum to which they are now consigned.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Yea and Nay: A Series of Lectures and Counter-lectures Given at the London School of Economics in Aid of the Hospitals of London, edited by C. David Stelling (1923), § IV, Poetry and Modern Poetry
“Daisy and Lily, Lazy and silly, Walk by the shore of the wan grassy sea,— Talking once more 'neath a swan-bosomed tree.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Prelude to a Fairy Tale", Rustic Elegies (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927), p. 56
“Jane, Jane, Tall as a crane, The morning light creaks down again!”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Aubade". Collected Poems (London: Duckworth, 1931), p. 178
“I enjoyed talking to her, but thought nothing of her writing. I considered her "a beautiful little knitter".”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Describing Virginia Woolf in a letter to Geoffrey Singleton (11 July 1955); John Lehmann and Derek Palmer, eds., Selected Letters (1970)
“My poems are hymns of praise to the glory of life.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Some Notes on My Poetry". Collected Poems (1957)
“As for the usefulness of poetry, its uses are many. It is the deification of reality. It should make our days holy to us. The poet should speak to all men, for a moment, of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lecture "Young Poets" (1957), published in Mightier Than the Sword: The P.E.N. Hermon Ould Memorial Lectures, 1953–1961 (1964), p. 56
“The poet is a brother speaking to a brother of "a moment of their other lives" — a moment that had been buried beneath the dust of the busy world.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Poet's Vision" (1959)
“Jumbo asleep! Grey leaves thick-furred As his ears, keep Conversation blurred.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sir Beelzebub called for his syllabub in the hotel in Hell Where Proserpine first fell, Blue as the gendarmerie were the waves of the sea, Rocking and shocking the barmaid.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fire was furry as a bear.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“White as a winding sheet, Masks blowing down the street: Moscow, Paris London, Vienna — all are undone. The drums of death are mumbling, rumbling, and tumbling, Mumbling, rumbling, and tumbling, The world's floors are quaking, crumbling and breaking.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The King of China's daughter So beautiful to see With her face like yellow water, left Her nutmeg tree. Her little rope for skipping She kissed and gave it me — Made of painted notes of singing-birds Among the fields of tea. I skipped across the nutmeg grove, — I skipped across the sea; But neither sun nor moon, my dear, Has yet caught me.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lovely Semiramis Closes her slanting eyes: Dead is she long ago.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The busy chatter of the heat Shrilled like a parakeet; And shuddering at the noonday light The dust lay dead and whiteAs powder on a mummy's face, Or fawned with simian grace Round booths with many a hard bright toy And wooden brittle joy:The cap and bells of Time the Clown That, jangling, whistled down Young cherubs hidden in the guise Of every bird that flies;And star-bright masks for youth to wear, Lest any dream that fare — Bright pilgrim — past our ken, should see Hints of Reality.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tall windows show Infinity; And, hard reality, The candles weep and pry and dance Like lives mocked at by Chance.The rooms are vast as Sleep within; When once I ventured in, Chill Silence, like a surging sea, Slowly enveloped me.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Within your magic web of hair, lies furled The fire and splendour of the ancient world; The dire gold of the comet's wind-blown hair; The songs that turned to gold the evening air When all the stars of heaven sang for joy.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the great gardens, after bright spring rain, We find sweet innocence come once again, White periwinkles, little pensionnaires With muslin gowns and shy and candid airs,That under saint-blue skies with gold stars sown Hide their sweet innocence by spring winds blown, From zephyr libertines that like Richelieu And d'Orsay their gold-spangled kisses blew.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Amid the dew’s bright beams The summer airs, like Weber waltzes, fall Round the first rose who, flushed with her youth, seems Like a young Princess dressed for her first ball.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Still falls the Rain — Dark as the world of man, black as our loss — Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails Upon the Cross.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Still Falls the Rain", l. 1 (1940)
“Still falls the Rain At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross. Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man's wounded Side: He bears in His Heart all wounds, — those of the light that died, The last faint spark In the self-murdered heart, the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“See, see where Christ's blood streames in the firmament: It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the tree Deep to the dying, to the thirsting heart That holds the fires of the world, — dark-smirched with pain As Caesar's laurel crown. Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of man Was once a child who among beasts has lain — "Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood, for thee.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great gold planet that is the mourning heat of the Sun Is greater than all gold, more powerful Than the tawny body of a Lion that fire consumes Like all that grows or leaps... so is the heart More powerful than all dust.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The flames of the heart consumed me, and the mind Is but a foolish wind.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Remember only this of our hopeless love That never till Time is done Will the fire of the heart and the fire of the mind be one.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh how the Vacancy Laughed at them rushing by. "Turn again, flesh and brain, Only yourselves again! How far above the Ape Differing in each shape, You with your regular Meaningless circles are!”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mother or Murderer, you have given or taken life — Now all is one!”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our hearts seemed safe in our breasts and sang to the Light — The marrow in the bone We dreamed was safe... the blood in the veins, the sap in the tree Were springs of Deity.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The living blind and seeing Dead together lie As if in love... There was no more hating then, And no more love; Gone is the heart of Man.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lily O’Grady, Silly and shady, Longing to be A lazy lady.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vulgarity is, in reality, nothing but a modern, chic, pert descendant of the goddess Dullness.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm not the man to baulk at a low smell, I’m not the man to insist on asphodel. This sounds like a He-fellow, don’t you think? It sounds like that. I belch, I bawl, I drink.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are people, also, who cannot believe that beauty and gaiety are a part of goodness. When we think of cruelty, we must try to remember the stupidity, the envy, the frustration from which it has arisen.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People are usually made Dames for virtues I do not possess.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wouldn't dream of following a fashion... how could one be a different person every three months?”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm afraid I'm being an awful nuisance.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The aim of flattery is to soothe and encourage us by assuring us of the truth of an opinion we have already formed about ourselves.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am resigned to the fact that people who don't know me loathe me. Perhaps it is because I am a woman writing poetry. It must be annoying to a man who wants to write to see this horrid old lady who can.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source