Escritas — Poems List

Edward Hoagland

True solitude is a din

True solitude is a din of birdsong, seething leaves, whirling colors, or a clamor of tracks in the snow.

20

Graham Greene

Innocence always calls mutely for

Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.

80

Oprah Winfrey

Every one of us gets

Every one of us gets through the tough times because somebody is there, standing in the gap to close it for us.

29

Graham Greene

Reality in our century is

Reality in our century is not something to be faced.

60

Edward Hoagland

Many divorces are not really

Many divorces are not really the result of irreparable injury but involve, instead, a desire on the part of the man or woman to shatter the setup, start out from scratch alone, and make life work for them all over again. They want the risk of disaster, want to touch bottom, see where bottom is, and, coming up, to breathe the air with relief and relish again.

21

Graham Greene

Morality comes with the sad

Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered.

86

Geoff Bunn

Art is about painting. All

Art is about painting. All the rest is just a sideshow

15

King Edward the Third

Evil to him who evil

Evil to him who evil thinks.

31

Edward Hoagland

Animals used to provide a

Animals used to provide a lowlife way to kill and get away with it, as they do still, but, more intriguingly, for some people they are an aperture through which wounds drain. The scapegoat of olden times, driven off for the bystanders sins, has become a tender thing, a running injury. There, running away is me: hurt it and you are hurting me.

19

Simone Weil

A doctrine serves no purpose

A doctrine serves no purpose in itself, but it is indispensable to have one if only to avoid being deceived by false doctrines.

41

B. J. Gupta

Keep controlling morality of others.

Keep controlling morality of others. Yours will be automatically taken care of.

40

Simone Weil

Imagination and fiction make up

Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our life.

46

Edward Hoagland

Men greet each other with

Men greet each other with a sock on the arm, women with a hug, and the hug wears better in the long run.

14

Simone Weil

Evil being the root of

Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.

43

Herbert Samuel

Without doubt the greatest injury

Without doubt the greatest injury was done by basing morals on myth, for sooner or later myth is recognized for what it is, and disappears. Then morality loses the foundation on which it has been built.

111

Simone Weil

There is something else which

There is something else which has the power to awaken us to the truth. It is the works of writers of genius. They give us, in the guise of fiction, something equivalent to the actual density of the real, that density which life offers us every day but which we are unable to grasp because we are amusing ourselves with lies.

55

Simone Weil

Whenever a human being, through

Whenever a human being, through the commission of a crime, has become exiled from good, he needs to be reintegrated with it through suffering. The suffering should be inflicted with the aim of bringing the soul to recognize freely some day that its infliction was just.

46

Edward Hoagland

To relive the relationship between

To relive the relationship between owner and slave we can consider how we treat our cars and dogs -- a dog exercising a somewhat similar leverage on our mercies and an automobile being comparable in value to a slave in those days.

31

Oprah Winfrey

If you look at what

If you look at what you have in life, You'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, You'll never have enough.

24

Simone Weil

When a contradiction is impossible

When a contradiction is impossible to resolve except by a lie, then we know that it is really a door.

51

Simone Weil

A test of what is

A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.

48

John Wayne

Courage is being scared to

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.

85

Stanley Kunitz

What makes the engine go

What makes the engine go Desire, desire, desire.

25

Simone Weil

Oppression that is clearly inexorable

Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.

81