Patrick Kavanagh Quotes

• On the stem of memory imaginations blossom.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Memories, Imagination, Mind

  Patrick Kavanagh (2002). “No Earthly Estate: God and Patrick Kavanagh : an Anthology”, Columba Press (IE)

  69 Copy quote

• We are not alone in our loneliness, others have been here and known griefs we thought our special own.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Loneliness, Grief, Special

  Patrick Kavanagh (2000). “Selected Poems”, Penguin Classics

  45 Copy quote

• There is something wrong with a work of art if it can be understood by a policeman.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Art, Policemen, Understood

  31 Copy quote

• The bicycles go by in twos and threes -
  There's a dance in Billy Brennan's barn to-night,
  And there's the half-talk code of mysteries
  And the wink-and-elbow language of delight.
  Half-past eight and there is not a spot
  Upon a mile of road, no shadow thrown
  That might turn out a man or woman, not
  A footfall tapping secrecies of stone.
  I have what every poet hates in spite
  Of all the solemn talk of contemplation.
  Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight
  Of being king and government and nation.
  A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king
  Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Kings, Hate, Past

  Patrick Kavanagh (2000). “Selected Poems”, Penguin Classics

  30 Copy quote

• I dabbled in verse and it became my life

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Verses

  "Tarry Flynn".

  12 Copy quote

• It often occurs to me that we love most what makes us miserable. In my opinion the damned are damned because they enjoy being damned.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Opinion, Miserable, Enjoy

  Patrick Kavanagh (2000). “Tarry Flynn”, p.249, Penguin UK

  12 Copy quote

• It is impossible to read the daily press without being diverted from reality. You are full of enthusiasm for the eternal verities - life is worth living, and then out of sinful curiosity you open a newspaper. You are disillusioned and wrecked.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Reality, Curiosity, Enthusiasm

  Patrick Kavanagh (1973). “Collected Pruse”

  13 Copy quote

• My chin is weak. I find it hard to make decisions. For years I had been caught between the two stools of security on the land and rich-scented life on the exotic islands of literature.
  I wasn't really a writer. I had seen a strange beautiful light on the hills and that was all.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Beautiful, Islands, Light

  21 Copy quote

• God cannot catch us. Unless we stay in the unconscious room. Of our hearts.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Faith, Heart, Rooms

  Patrick Kavanagh (2002). “No Earthly Estate: God and Patrick Kavanagh : an Anthology”, Columba Press (IE)

  25 Copy quote

• Malice is only another name for mediocrity.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Names, Mediocrity, Malice

  Patrick Kavanagh (1973). “Collected Pruse”

  12 Copy quote

• What appears in newspapers is often new but seldom true.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Newspapers

  Patrick Kavanagh (1973). “Collected Pruse”

  9 Copy quote

• A sweeping statement is the only statement worth listening to. The critic without faith gives balanced opinions, usually about second-rate writers.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Giving, Listening, Opinion

  Patrick Kavanagh (1973). “Collected Pruse”

  20 Copy quote

• A man is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Men, Good Man, Originality

  Patrick Kavanagh (1973). “Collected Pruse”

  11 Copy quote

• Actors are loved because they are unoriginal. Actors stick to their script. The unoriginal man is loved by the mediocrity because this kind of artistic expression is something to which the merest five-eighth can climb.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Men, Expression, Sticks

  Patrick Kavanagh (1973). “Collected Pruse”

  13 Copy quote

• Macmillan's rejection had left him very downcast... Patrick Swift was invited to peruse the contents and decided that the poems should be published.

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Rejection, Should, Invited

  15 Copy quote

• Publication there [in Nimbus] was to prove a turning point… The publication of his next volume of verse, Come Dance with Kitty Stobling, was to be directly linked to the mini-collection in Nimbus, and his Collected Poems (1964)

  Patrick Kavanagh

  Next, Volume, Kitties

  7 Copy quote

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