Irving Layton Quotes

• Since I no longer expect anything from mankind except madness, meanness, and mendacity; egotism, cowardice, and self-delusion, I have stopped being a misanthrope.

  Irving Layton

  Self, Madness, Misanthrope

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  79 Copy quote

• When you argue with your inferiors, you convince them of only one thing: they are as clever as you.

  Irving Layton

  Clever, Arguing, Argument

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  53 Copy quote

• Only the tiniest fracton of mankind want freedom. All the rest want someone to tell them theyare free.

  Irving Layton

  Want, Mankind

  26 Copy quote

• By walking, I found out where I was going.

  Irving Layton

  Found, Walking

  Irving Layton (2012). “A Wild Peculiar Joy: The Selected Poems”, p.110, McClelland & Stewart

  10 Copy quote

• God is indeed dead. He died of self-horror when He saw the creature He had made in His own image.

  Irving Layton

  Funny, God, Humorous

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  18 Copy quote

• We love in another's soul whatever of ourselves we can deposit in it; the greater the deposit, the greater the love

  Irving Layton

  Love, Soul, Deposits

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  24 Copy quote

• Canadians look down on the United States and consider it Hell. They are right to do so. Canada is to the United States what, in Dante's scheme, Limbo is to Hell

  Irving Layton

  Usa, United States, Looks

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  15 Copy quote

• Whom the gods do not intend to destroy, they first make mad with poetry.

  Irving Layton

  Mad, Firsts

  Irving Layton (1989). “Selected Poems, 1945-89: A Wild Peculiar Joy”

  6 Copy quote

• A poet is deeply conflicted and it's in his work that he reconciles those deep conflicts. The place is the harbor. It doesn't set the world in order, you know, it's the place of reconciliation. It's the Consolamentum, the kiss of peace.

  Irving Layton

  Kissing, Order, World

  13 Copy quote

• It amazes me that organs that piss Can give human beings such perfect bliss.

  Irving Layton

  Giving, Perfect, Bliss

  1969 TheWhole Bloody Bird,'Aphs'.

  4 Copy quote

• A political leader worthy of assassination

  Irving Layton

  Leader, Political, Worthy

  The Whole Bloody Bird "Obs II" (1969)

  9 Copy quote

• how seasonably
  leaf and blossom uncurl
  and living things arrange their death,
  while someone from afar off
  blows birthday candles for the world.

  Irving Layton

  Blow, World, Afar

  Irving Layton (1977). “The Selected Poems of Irving Layton”, p.12, New Directions Publishing

  13 Copy quote

• A Canadian is someone who keeps asking the question, 'What is a Canadian?

  Irving Layton

  Asking

  Irving Layton, Howard Aster (1977). “Taking Sides: The Collected Social and Political Writings of Irving Layton, 1935-1977”, Mosaic Pr

  16 Copy quote

• Idealist: a cynic in the making.

  Irving Layton

  Cynic, Idealist, Ideals

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  7 Copy quote

• My neighbor doesn't want to be loved as much as he wants to be envied.

  Irving Layton

  Want, Neighbor, Envied

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  7 Copy quote

• Conscience: self-esteem with a halo.

  Irving Layton

  Self Esteem, Halos, Conscience

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  8 Copy quote

• Death is a name for beauty not in use.

  Irving Layton

  Names, Use

  1953 'Composition in Late Spring', collected in The Collected Poems of Irving Layton (1971).

  8 Copy quote

• Time flames like a paraffin stove / and what burns are the minutes I live.

  Irving Layton

  Flames, Minutes, Stoves

  Irving Layton (2012). “A Wild Peculiar Joy: The Selected Poems”, p.79, McClelland & Stewart

  8 Copy quote

• Progress of a marriage: There was a time when you couldn't make me happy. Now the time has come when you can make me unhappy.

  Irving Layton

  Marriage, Progress, Unhappy

  4 Copy quote

• I am a genius who has written poems that will survive with the best of Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Keats

  Irving Layton

  Genius, Wordsworth, Written

  Irving Layton (1972). “Engagements: the prose of Irving Layton”, McClelland & Stewart

  10 Copy quote

• To this pass Christianity has come There is no God, and Jesus is his son.

  Irving Layton

  Jesus, Son, Christianity

  6 Copy quote

• I have stopped being a misanthrope.

  Irving Layton

  Misanthrope

  Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

  18 Copy quote

• An aphorism
  should be
  like a burr:
  sting,
  ...
  and leave
  a little soreness.

  Irving Layton

  Littles, Aphorism, Should

  7 Copy quote

• And me happiest when I compose poems:
  Love, power, the huzza of battle
  are something, are much:
  yet a poem includes them like a pool
  water and reflection.

  Irving Layton

  Reflection, Water, Poetry

  Irving Layton (2012). “A Wild Peculiar Joy: The Selected Poems”, p.23, McClelland & Stewart

  8 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Louis Dudek

Leonard Cohen

Al Purdy

Duncan Campbell Scott

Earle Birney

Adrienne Clarkson

Mordecai Richler

P. K. Page