John Ashbery Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• Death is a new office building filled with modern furniture,
  A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.

  John Ashbery

  Death, Wise, Office

  John Ashbery (2011). “The Tennis Court Oath: A Book of Poems”, p.58, Wesleyan University Press

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• And the way
  Though discontinuous, and intermittent, sometimes
  Not heard of for years at a time, did,
  Nonetheless, move up, although, to his surprise
  It was inside the house,
  And always getting narrower.

  John Ashbery

  Moving, Thoughtful, Thinking

  John Ashbery (1986). “Selected Poems”, Penguin Group USA

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• I am often asked why I write, and I don't know really--I just want to.

  John Ashbery

  Writing, Want, Knows

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• Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?

  John Ashbery

  Hopes And Fears, Objects

  John Ashbery (2011). “The Tennis Court Oath: A Book of Poems”, p.44, Wesleyan University Press

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• I tried each thing, only some were immortal and free.

  John Ashbery

  Immortal

  John Ashbery (1985). “Selected poems”, Viking Pr

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• It never seems to occur to anyone that each reader is different, and that even those who might be said to resemble each other will each bring an individual set of experiences and references to their reading, and interpret and misinterpret it according to these.

  John Ashbery

  Reading, Different, Might

  John Ashbery (2004). “Selected Prose”

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• Just keep playing, mastering as you do the step Into disorder this one meant. Don't you see It's all we can do? Meanwhile, great fires Arise, as of haystacks aflame. The dial has been set And that's ominous, but all your graciousness in living Conspires with it, now that this is our home: A place to be from, and have people ask about.

  John Ashbery

  Home, Fire, People

  John Ashbery (1985). “A Wave: Poems”, p.2, Ardent Media

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• We might realize that the present moment may be one of an eternal or sempiternal series of moments, all of which will resemble it because, in some ways, they are the present, and won't in other ways, because the present will be the past by that time.

  John Ashbery

  Past, May, Might

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• Extreme patience and persistence are required,
  Yet everybody succeeds at this before being handed
  The surprise box lunch of the rest of his life.

  John Ashbery

  Life, Patience, Growing Up

  John Ashbery (1981). “Shadow train: poems”, Viking Adult

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• ... the first step of the terrible journey toward feeling somebody should act, that ends in utter confusion and hopelessness, east of the sun and west of the moon.

  John Ashbery

  Moon, Journey, Confusion

  John Ashbery, Lee Harwood, Tom Raworth (1971). “John Ashbery, Lee Harwood, Tom Raworth”, Not Avail

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• Each servant stamps the reader with a look.

  John Ashbery

  Reading, Looks, Stamps

  John Ashbery (1986). “Selected Poems”

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• A perfect example of the new republic's urge to drape itself with the togas of classical respectability.

  John Ashbery

  Perfect, Example, Togas

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• You stupefied me. We waxed,
  Carnivores, late and alight
  In the beaded winter. All was ominous, luminous.

  John Ashbery

  Life, Winter, Carnivores

  John Ashbery (1986). “Selected Poems”

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• The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.

  John Ashbery

  Want

  John Ashbery (1986). “Selected Poems”

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• Once a happy old man One can never change the core of things, and light burns you the harder for it.

  John Ashbery

  Men, Light, Age

  John Ashbery (1986). “Selected Poems”

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• Silly girls your heads full of boys

  John Ashbery

  Girl, Silly, Boys

  John Ashbery (1986). “Selected Poems”, Penguin Group USA

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