Emily Dickinson Quotes - Page 2

Art is a house that tries to be haunted.
Emily Dickinson
I like a look of agony, because I know it's true
Emily Dickinson
I did not reach thee,tBut my feet slip nearer every day;tThree Rivers and a Hill to cross,tOne Desert and a Sea—tI shall not count the journey onet When I am telling thee.tTwo deserts—but the year is coldtSo that will help the sand—tOne desert crossed, the second onetWill feel as cool as land.t Sahara is too little pricetTo pay for thy Right hand!tThe sea comes last. Step merry, feet!tSo short have we to gotTo play together we are prone,t But we must labor now,tThe last shall be the lightest loadtThat we have had to draw.tThe Sun goes crooked—that is night—tBefore he makes the bendt We must have passed the middle sea,tAlmost we wish the endtWere further off—too great it seemstSo near the Whole to stand.tWe step like plush, we stand like snow—t The waters murmur now,tThree rivers and the hill are passed,tTwo deserts and the sea!tNow Death usurps my premiumtAnd gets the look at Thee.
Emily Dickinson
I never spoke — unless addressed —And then, 'twas brief and low —I could not bear to live — aloud —The Racket shamed me so —And if it had not been so far —And any one I knewWere going — I had often thoughtHow noteless — I could die —
Emily Dickinson
Truth is such a rare thing it is delightful to tell it,
Emily Dickinson
Anger as soon as fed is dead- 'Tis starving makes it fat.
Emily Dickinson
THE MOON was but a chin of goldtA night or two ago,tAnd now she turns her perfect facetUpon the world below.tHer forehead is of amplest blond;t Her cheek like beryl stone;tHer eye unto the summer dewtThe likest I have known.tHer lips of amber never part;tBut what must be the smileUpon her friend she could bestowtWere such her silver will!tAnd what a privilege to betBut the remotest star!tFor certainly her way might passt Beside your twinkling door.tHer bonnet is the firmament,tThe universe her shoe,tThe stars the trinkets at her belt,tHer dimities of blue.
Emily Dickinson
In lands I never saw, they say, Immortal Alps look down,Whose bonnets touch the firmament,Whose sandals touch the town, ―Meek at whose everlasting feetA myriad daisies play.Which, sir, are you, and which am I.Upon an August day?
Emily Dickinson
In snow thou comestThou shalt go with resuming groundThe sweet derision of thx crowAnd Glee's advancing sound
Emily Dickinson
Parting is all we know of Heaven,and all we need of Hell.
Emily Dickinson
I sing to use the waiting, My bonnet but to tie, And shut the door unto my house; No more to do have I, Till, his best step approaching, We journey to the day, And tell each other how we sang To keep the dark away.
Emily Dickinson
I measure every Grief I meetWith narrow, probing, eyes –I wonder if It weighs like Mine –Or has an Easier size.I wonder if They bore it long –Or did it just begin –I could not tell the Date of Mine –It feels so old a pain –I wonder if it hurts to live –And if They have to try –And whether – could They choose between –It would not be – to die –I note that Some – gone patient long –At length, renew their smile –An imitation of a LightThat has so little Oil –I wonder if when Years have piled –Some Thousands – on the Harm –That hurt them early – such a lapseCould give them any Balm.
Emily Dickinson
The past is not a package one can lay away.
Emily Dickinson
Consciousness is the only home of which we know.
Emily Dickinson
One need not be a chamber to be haunted,One need not be a house;The brain has corridors surpassingMaterial place.Far safer, of a midnight meetingExternal ghost,Than an interior confrontingThat whiter host.Far safer through an Abbey gallop,The stones achase,Than, moonless, one's own self encounterIn lonesome place.Ourself, behind ourself concealed,Should startle most; Assassin, hid in our apartment,Be horror's least.The prudent carries a revolver,He bolts the door,O'erlooking a superior spectreMore near.
Emily Dickinson
I HIDE myself within my flowerThat wearing on your breast,You, unsuspecting, wear me too—And angels know the rest.I hide myself within my flower,That, fading from your vase,You, unsuspecting, feel for meAlmost a loneliness...
Emily Dickinson
To shut your eyes is to travel.
Emily Dickinson
But it is growing damp and I must go in. Memory’s fog is rising.
Emily Dickinson
We dream — it is good we are dreaming —It would hurt us — were we awake —But since it is playing — kill us,And we are playing — shriek —What harm? Men die — externally —It is a truth — of Blood —But we — are dying in Drama —And Drama — is never dead —Cautious — We jar each other —And either — open the eyes —Lest the Phantasm — prove the Mistake —And the livid SurpriseCool us to Shafts of Granite —With just an Age — and Name —And perhaps a phrase in Egyptian —It's prudenter — to dream —
Emily Dickinson
your brain is wider than the sky
Emily Dickinson
The possible's slow fuse is lit by the Imagination.
Emily Dickinson
I measure every Grief I meetWith narrow, probing, Eyes;I wonder if It weighs like Mine,Or has an Easier size.
Emily Dickinson
When Jesus tells us about his Father, we distrust him. When he shows us his Home, we turn away, but when he confides to us that he is 'acquainted with Grief', we listen, for that also is an Acquaintance of our own.
Emily Dickinson
To lose what we never owned might seem an eccentric Bereavement but Presumption has its Affliction as actually as Claim --
Emily Dickinson
Heart, we will forget him!You and I, to-night!You may forget the warmth he gave,I will forget the light.When you have done, pray tell me,That I my thoughts may dim;Haste! lest while you’re lagging,I may remember him!
Emily Dickinson
And I, could I stand byAnd see you freeze,Without my right of frost, Death's privilege?
Emily Dickinson
Faith slips - and laughs, and rallies
Emily Dickinson
The Poets light but Lamps-Themselves-go out-
Emily Dickinson
We both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an hour, which keeps believing nimble.
Emily Dickinson
I felt a Cleaving in my Mind—As if my Brain had split—I tried to match it—Seam by Seam—But could not make it fit.The thought behind, I strove to joinUnto the thought before—But Sequence ravelled out of SoundLike Balls—upon a Floor.
Emily Dickinson
Not with a club, the Heart is brokenNor with a Stone –A Whip so small you could not see itI've known
Emily Dickinson
Split the Lark—and you'll find the Music, Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled.
Emily Dickinson
and so I sing, as the Boy does by the Burying Ground – because I am afraid –
Emily Dickinson
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,And Mourners to and froKept treading – treading – till it seemedThat Sense was breaking through – And when they all were seated,A Service, like a Drum – Kept beating – beating – till I thoughtMy Mind was going numb – And then I heard them lift a BoxAnd creak across my SoulWith those same Boots of Lead, again,Then Space – began to toll,As all the Heavens were a Bell,And Being, but an Ear,And I, and Silence, some strange RaceWrecked, solitary, here – And then a Plank in Reason, broke,And I dropped down, and down – And hit a World, at every plunge,And Finished knowing – then –
Emily Dickinson
If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robinUnto his nest again,I shall not live in vain.
Emily Dickinson
Water is taught by thirst;Land, by the oceans passed;Transport, by throe;Peace, by its battles told;Love, by memorial mould;Birds, by the snow.
Emily Dickinson
Nature is a haunted house--but Art--is a house that tries to be haunted.
Emily Dickinson
The Soul selects her own Society.
Emily Dickinson
THE soul should always stand ajar, That if the heaven inquire,He will not be obliged to wait, Or shy of troubling her.Depart, before the host has slid The bolt upon the door,To seek for the accomplished guest, -- Her visitor no more.
Emily Dickinson
Not “Revelation” – tis – that waitsBut our unfurnished eyes –
Emily Dickinson
So bashful when I spied her!So pretty ― so ashamed!So hidden in her leafletsLest anybody find ―So breathless till I passed her ―So helpless when I turnedAnd bore her struggling, blushing,Her simple haunts beyond!For whom I robbed the Dingle ―For whom betrayed the Dell ―Many, will doubtless ask me,But I shall never tell!
Emily Dickinson
Beauty is not caused. It is.
Emily Dickinson
Bless God, he went as soldiers,His musket on his breast—Grant God, he charge the bravestOf all the martial blest!Please God, might I behold himIn epauletted white—I should not fear the foe then—I should not fear the fight!
Emily Dickinson
This is my letter to the worldThat never wrote to me
Emily Dickinson
A letter always seemed to me like immortality because it is the mind alone without corporeal friend.
Emily Dickinson
We never know how high we areTill we are called to rise;And then, if we are true to plan,Our statures touch the skies.The heroism we reciteWould be a daily thing,Did not ourselves the cubits warpFor fear to be a king.
Emily Dickinson
A precious, mouldering pleasure 't isTo meet an antique bookIn just the dress his century wore;A privilege, I think,His venerable hand to take,And warming in our own,A passage back, or two, to makeTo times when he was young.His quaint opinions to inspect,His knowledge to unfoldOn what concerns our mutual mind,The literature of old...
Emily Dickinson
I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.
Emily Dickinson
Look back on Time, with kindly eyes -He doubtless did his best -How softly sinks that trembling sunIn Human Nature's West -
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a book.
Emily Dickinson
THERE is no frigate like a book/ To take us lands away...
Emily Dickinson
The Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blind - Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson
Faith—is the Pierless BridgeSupporting what We seeUnto the Scene that We do not—Too slender for the eyeIt bears the Soul as boldAs it were rocked in SteelWith Arms of Steel at either side—It joins—behind the VeilTo what, could We presumeThe Bridge would cease to beTo Our far, vacillating FeetA first Necessity.
Emily Dickinson
Faith is a fine inventionWhen gentlemen can see,But microscopes are prudentIn an emergency.
Emily Dickinson
I have no life but this, To lead it here; Nor any death, but lest Dispelled from there; Nor tie to earths to come, Nor action new, Except through this extent, The realm of you.
Emily Dickinson
The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride, Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide, Earth a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,And Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue.
Emily Dickinson
Success is counted sweetest by those ne'er succeed.
Emily Dickinson
I many times thought peace had come,tWhen peace was far away;tAs wrecked men deem they sight the landtAt centre of the sea,tAnd struggle slacker, but to prove,t As hopelessly as I,tHow many the fictitious shorestBefore the harbor lie.
Emily Dickinson
If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is Divinest Sense, to a Discerning Eye....
Emily Dickinson