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Robinson Jeffers
43 quotes
“O that our souls could scale a height like this, A mighty mountain swept o'er by the bleak Keen winds of heaven; and, standing on that peak Above the blinding clouds of prejudice, Would we could see all truly as it is; The calm eternal truth would keep us meek.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Hill-Top View (1904); This is one of his earliest poems, printed in the Aurora, a student publication of Occidental College.
“At the equinox when the earth was veiled in a late rain, wreathed with wet poppies, waiting spring The ocean swelled for a far storm and beat its boundary, the ground-swell shook the beds of granite. I gazing at the boundaries of granite and spray, the established sea-marks, felt behind me Mountain and plain, the immense breadth of the continent, before me the mass and double stretch of water.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Continent's End" in Tamar and Other Poems (1924)
“The long migrations meet across you and it is nothing to you, you have forgotten us, mother. You were much younger when we crawled out of the womb and lay in the sun’s eye on the tideline. It was long and long ago; we have grown proud since then and you have grown bitter; life retains Your mobile soft unquiet strength; and envies hardness, the insolent quietness of stone.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Continent's End" in Tamar and Other Poems (1924)
“The tides are in our veins, we still mirror the stars, life is your child, but there is in me Older and harder than life and more impartial, the eye that watched before there was an ocean.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Continent's End" in Tamar and Other Poems (1924)
“Mother, though my song's measure is like your surf-beat's ancient rhythm I never learned it of you. Before there was any water there were tides of fire, both our tones flow from the older fountain.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Continent's End" in Tamar and Other Poems (1924)
“Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you fore-defeated Challengers of oblivion Eat cynical earnings, knowing rock splits, records fall down, The square-limbed Roman letters Scale in the thaws, wear in the rain.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1924 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To The Stone-Cutters" in Tamar and Other Poems (1924)
“Happy people die whole, they are all dissolved in a moment, they have had what they wanted”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Post Mortem" in The Women at Point Sur (1927)
“He takes it in the naked ecstasy; it breaks in his hand, the atom is broken, the power that massed it Cries to the power that moves the stars, "I have come home to myself, behold me. I bruised myself in the flint mortar and burnt me In the red shell, I tortured myself, I flew forth, Stood naked of myself and broke me in fragments, And here am I moving the stars that are me." I have seen these ways of God: I know of no reason For fire and change and torture and the old returnings.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apology for Bad Dreams" in The Women at Point Sur (1927)
“I think that one may contribute (ever so slightly) to the beauty of things by making one's own life and environment beautiful, as far as one's power reaches.This includes moral beauty, one of the qualities of humanity, though it seems not to appear elsewhere in the universe. But I would have each person realize that his contribution is not important, its success not really a matter for exultation nor its failure for mourning; the beauty of things is sufficient without him. (An office of tragic poetry is to show that there is beauty in pain and failure as much as in success and happiness.)”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sister Mary James Power (1 October 1934); published in The Wild God of the World : An Anthology of Robinson Jeffers (2003), edited by Albert Gelpi, p. 189 - 190
“I hate my verses, every line, every word. Oh pale and brittle pencils ever to try One grass-blade's curve, or the throat of one bird That clings to twig, ruffled against white sky. Oh cracked and twilight mirrors ever to catch One color, one glinting flash, of the splendor of things.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Love the Wild Swan" (1935)
“This wild swan of a world is no hunter's game. Better bullets than yours would miss the white breast Better mirrors than yours would crack in the flame. Does it matter whether you hate your . . . self? At least Love your eyes that can see, your mind that can Hear the music, the thunder of the wings. Love the wild swan.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Love the Wild Swan" (1935)
“Here is a symbol in which Many high tragic thoughts Watch their own eyes.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rock and Hawk" in Solstice and Other Poems (1935)
“I think, here is your emblem To hang in the future sky; Not the cross, not the hive, But this; bright power, dark peace; Fierce consciousness joined with final Disinterestedness; Life with calm death; the falcon’s Realist eyes and act Married to the massive Mysticism of stone, Which failure cannot cast down Nor success make proud.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rock and Hawk" in Solstice and Other Poems (1935)
“Then what is the answer? — Not to be deluded by dreams. To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence, and their tyrants come, many times before. When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose the least ugly faction; these evils are essential. To keep one's own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted and not wish for evil; and not be duped By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will not be fulfilled.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Answer" (1936)
“Know that however ugly the parts appear the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars and his history... for contemplation or in fact... Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe. Love that, not man Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions, or drown in despair when his days darken.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Answer" (1936)
“There is no reason for amazement: surely one always knew that cultures decay, and life's end is death.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Purse-Seine" (1937)
“You ask what I am for and what I am against in Spain. I would give my right hand of course to prevent the agony; I would not give a flick of my little finger to help either side win.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Response in a pamphlet Writers Take Sides : Letters About the War in Spain from 418 American Authors (1938) by the American Writers League, which asked various authors: "Are you for or are you against Franco and fascism…
“Reason will not decide at last; the sword will decide. The sword: an obsolete instrument of bronze or steel, formerly used to kill men, but here In the sense of a symbol.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Contemplation of The Sword" (1938)
“Dear God, who are the whole splendor of things and the sacred stars, but also the cruelty and greed, the treacheries And vileness, insanities and filth and anguish: now that this thing comes near us again I am finding it hard To praise you with a whole heart.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Contemplation of The Sword" (1938)
“I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make earth.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shine, Perishing Republic" (1939)
“Meteors are not needed less than mountains: shine, perishing republic.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shine, Perishing Republic" (1939)
“Corruption never has been compulsory; when the cities lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shine, Perishing Republic" (1939)
“And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant, insufferable master. There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught — they say — God, when he walked on earth.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shine, Perishing Republic" (1939)
“The world's in a bad way, my man, And bound to be worse before it mends; Better lie up in the mountain here Four or five centuries, While the stars go over the lonely ocean...”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Stars Go Over The Lonely Ocean" (1940)
“Keep clear of the dupes that talk democracy And the dogs that talk revolution, Drunk with talk, liars and believers. I believe in my tusks. Long live freedom and damn the ideologies.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Stars Go Over The Lonely Ocean" (1940)
“That public men publish falsehoods Is nothing new. That America must accept Like the historical republics corruption and empire Has been known for years. Be angry at the sun for setting If these things anger you.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Be Angry At The Sun" (1941)
“The gang serves lies, the passionate Man plays his part; the cold passion for truth Hunts in no pack.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Be Angry At The Sun" (1941)
“I will have shepherds for my philosophers, Tall dreary men lying on the hills all night Watching the stars, let their dogs watch the sheep. And I'll have lunatics For my poets, strolling from farm to farm, wild liars distorting The country news into supernaturalism — For all men to such minds are devils or gods — and that increases Man's dignity, man's importance, necessary lies Best told by fools.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Silent Shepherds" (1958)
“Science and mathematics Run parallel to reality, they symbolize it, they squint at it, They never touch it: consider what an explosion Would rock the bones of men into little white fragments and unsky the world If any mind for a moment touch truth.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Silent Shepherds" (1958)
“He is no God of love, no justice of a little city like Dante's Florence, no anthropoid God Making commandments: this is the God who does not care and will never cease. Look at the seas there Flashing against this rock in the darkness — look at the tide-stream stars — and the fall of nations — and dawn Wandering with wet white feet down the Carmel Valley to meet the sea. These are real and we see their beauty. The great explosion is probably only a metaphor — I know not — of faceless violence, the root of all things.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Great Explosion" in the posthumous publication The Beginning and the End (1973)
“Poetry is bound to concern itself chiefly with permanent aspects of life.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century (1981) edited by Leonard S. Klein, Vol. 2, p. 504
“I decided not to tell lies in verse. Not to feign any emotions that I did not feel.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Selected Poems of Robinson Jeffers, Stanford University Press (2001)
“When the sun shouts and people abound One thinks there were the ages of stone and the age of bronze And the iron age; iron the unstable metal; Steel made of iron, unstable as his mother; the towered-up cities Will be stains of rust on mounds of plaster. Roots will not pierce the heaps for a time, kind rains will cure them, Then nothing will remain of the iron age And all these people but a thigh-bone or so, a poem Stuck in the world's thought, splinters of glass In the rubbish dumps, a concrete dam far off in the mountain...”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The extraordinary patience of things! This beautiful place defaced with a crop of suburban houses — How beautiful when we first beheld it, Unbroken field of poppy and lupin walled with clean cliffs; No intrusion but two or three horses pasturing...”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now the spoiler has come: does it care? Not faintly. It has all time. It knows the people are a tide That swells and in time will ebb, and all Their works dissolve. Meanwhile the image of the pristine beauty Lives in the very grain of the granite, Safe as the endless ocean that climbs our cliff. — As for us: We must uncenter our minds from ourselves; We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident As the rock and ocean that we were made from.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Against the outcrop boulders of a raised beach We built our house when I and my love were young.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here from this mountain shore, headland beyond stormy headland plunging like dolphins through the blue sea-smoke Into pale sea — look west at the hill of water: it is half the planet: this dome, this half-globe, this bulging Eyeball of water, arched over to Asia, Australia and white Antarctica: those are the eyelids that never close; this is the staring unsleeping Eye of the earth; and what it watches is not our wars.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe that the Universe is one being, all its parts are different expressions of the same energy, and they are all in communication with each other, therefore parts of one organic whole. (This is physics, I believe, as well as religion.) The parts change and pass, or die, people and races and rocks and stars, none of them seems to me important in itself, but only the whole. This whole is in all its parts so beautiful, and is felt by me to be so intensely in earnest, that I am compelled to love it and to think of it as divine. It seems to me that this whole alone is worthy of the deeper sort of love and there is peace, freedom, I might say a kind of salvation, in turning one's affections outward toward this one God, rather than inwards on one's self, or on humanity, or on human imaginations and abstractions — the world of spirits. I think it is our privilege and felicity to love God for his beauty, without claiming or expecting love from him. We are not important to him, but he to us.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Sister Mary James Power (1 October 1934); published in The Wild God of the World : An Anthology of Robinson Jeffers (2003), edited by Albert Gelpi, p. 189; also partly quoted in the essay "Robinson Jeffers, Pa…
“The first part of "The Double Axe" was written during the war and finished a year before the war ended, and it bears the scars; but the poem is not primarily concerned with that grim folly. Its burden, as of some previous work of mine, is to present a philosophical attitude, which might be called Inhumanism, a shifting of emphasis and significance from man to not-man; the rejection of human solipsism and recognition of the transhuman magnificence. It seems time that our race began to think as an adult does, rather than like an egocentric baby or insane person. This manner of thought and feeling is neither misanthropic nor pessimist, though two or three people have said so and may again. It involves no falsehoods, and is a means of maintaining sanity in slippery times; it has objective truth and human value. It offers a reasonable detachment as rule of conduct, instead of love, hate and envy. It neutralizes fanaticism and wild hopes; but it provides magnificence for the religious instinct, and satisfies our need to admire greatness and rejoice in beauty.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface to The Double Axe and Other Poems (1948)
“When I first went to Occidental College... there was a literary magazine...called the Aurora, and I remember thinking it odd that Occidental — the west, the setting sun — should be represented by a magazine called Aurora, the dawn. At least it gave us a wide range, the whole daylight sky. I was continually writing verses in those days. Nobody, not even I myself, thought they were good verses; but Aurora's editor accepted many of them and it gave me pleasure to see my rhymes in print. They did rhyme, if that is any value, and were usually metrical, but why was I so eager to publish what hardly anyone would read and no one would remember? I suppose the desire for publication is a normal part of the instinct for writing... the writer sits at home, and the mere fact of being printed provides his verses with a kind of audience... So, having his vanity partially satisfied, he can go ahead and try better work.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to a group of Occidental College students (1955)
“Come little ones, You are worth no more than the foxes and yellow wolfkins, yet I will give you wisdom. O future children: Trouble is coming; the world as of the present time Sails on its rocks; but you will be born and live Afterwards. Also a day will come when the earth Will scratch herself and smile and rub off humanity: But you will be born before that. Time will come, no doubt, When the sun too shall die; the planets will freeze, and the air on them; frozen gases, white flasks of air Will be dust: which no wind ever will stir: this very dust in dim starlight glistening Is dead wind, the white corpse of wind. Also the galaxy will die; the glitter of the Milky Way, our universe, all the stars that have names are dead. Vast is the night. How you have grown, dear night, walking your empty halls, how tall!”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Double Axe and Other Poems, including eleven suppressed poems (1977) II.The Inhumanist XLV
“The rock-cheeks have red fire-stains. But the place was maiden, no previous Building, no neighbors, nothing but the elements, Rock, wind, and sea; in moon-struck nights the mountain Coyotes howled in our dooryard; or doe and fawn Stared in the lamplit window, We raised two boys here All that we saw or heard was beautiful And hardly human. Oh heavy change. The world deteriorates like a rotting apple, worms and a skin. They have built streets around us, new houses Line them and cars obsess them — and my dearest has died. The ocean at least is not changed at all, Cold, grim, and faithful; and I still keep a hard edge of forest Haunted by long gray squirrels and hoarse herons.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you should look for this place after a handful of lifetimes: Perhaps of my planted forest a few May stand yet, dark-leaved Australians or the coast cypress, haggard With storm-drift; but fire and the axe are devils. Look for foundations of sea-worn granite, my fingers had the art To make stone love stone, you will find some remnant. But if you should look in your idleness after ten thousand years: It is the granite knoll on the granite And lava tongue in the midst of the bay, by the mouth of the Carmel River Valley; these four will remain In the changes of names. You will know it by the wild sea-fragrance of the wind.”
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source