Dickinson Emily Quotes & Sayings

We all have moments with the dust, but the dew is given. — Emily Dickinson

I many times thought peace had come,
When peace was far away;
As wrecked men deem they sight the land
At centre of the sea,
And struggle slacker, but to prove,
As hopelessly as I,
How many the fictitious shores
Before the harbor lie. — Emily Dickinson

Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell. — Emily Dickinson

A shady friend for torrid days Is easier to find Than one of higher temperature For frigid hour of mind. — Emily Dickinson

God's little Blond Blessing we have long deemed you, and hope his so-called Will will not compel him to revoke you. — Emily Dickinson

your brain is wider than the sky — Emily Dickinson

Our journey had advanced; Our feet were almost come To that odd fork in Being's road, Eternity by term. — Emily Dickinson

That no Flake of [snow] fall on you or them - is a wish that would be a Prayer, were Emily not a Pagan. — Emily Dickinson

Who loves you most, and loves you best, and thinks of you when others rest? 'Tis Emilie. — Emily Dickinson

Bind me-I still can sing-
Banish-my mandolin
Strikes true within-
Slay-and my Soul shall rise
Chanting to Paradise-
Still thine. — Emily Dickinson

Had we less to say to those we love, perhaps we should say it oftener. — Emily Dickinson

I was reading Emily Dickinson and Edwin Arlington Robinson, but these weren't the poets that influenced me. I think Gwendolyn Brooks influenced me because she wrote about Chicago, and she wrote about poor people. And she influenced me in my life by giving me a blurb. I would see her in action, and she listened to every single person. She didn't say, "Oh, I'm tired. I gotta go." She was there, and present, with every single person. She's one of the great teachers. — Sandra Cisneros

Her Grace is all she has -
And that, so least displays -
One Art to recognize, must be,
Another Art, to praise. — Emily Dickinson

They address an Eclipse every morning, whom they call their "Father." — Emily Dickinson

Where Thou art - that - is Home. — Emily Dickinson

What shall we do my darling, when trial grows more, and more, when the dim, lone light expires, and it's dark, so very dark, and we wander, and know not where, and cannot get out of the forest - whose is the hand to help us, and to lead, and forever guide us? ... Where do you think I've strayed and from what new errand returned. I have come from to and fro, and walking up and down the same place that Satan hailed from when God asked where he'd been. — Emily Dickinson

I've got a Tomahawk in my side but that don't hurt me much. — Emily Dickinson

A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think. — Emily Dickinson

XVI. Surgeons must be very careful When they take the knife! Underneath their fine incisions Stirs the culprit, - Life! — Emily Dickinson

Within thy Grave! Oh no, but on some other flight - Thou only camest to mankind To rend it with Good night — Emily Dickinson

Will you tell me my fault, frankly as to yourself, for I had rather wince, than die. Men do not call the surgeon to commend the bone, but to set it, Sir. — Emily Dickinson

It is finished, is never said of us — Emily Dickinson

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -
The Eyes around - had wrung them dry -
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset - when the King
Be witnessed - in the Room -
I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable - and then it was
There interposed a Fly -
With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz -
Between the light - and me -
And then the Windows failed - and then
I could not see to see - — Emily Dickinson

Death is a Dialogue between
The Spirit and the Dust.
"Dissolve" says Death,
The Spirit "Sir
I have another Trust" -
Death doubts it -
Argues from the Ground -
The Spirit turns away
Just laying off for evidence
An Overcoat of Clay. — Emily Dickinson

I love the idea of the 'vignette,' which is associated with the decorative, illustrative, small, and thus with the feminine, and thus easily maligned. I mean, Emily Dickinson wrote vignettes, right? — Kate Bernheimer

Prayer is the little implement through which men reach; where presence is denied them. — Emily Dickinson

How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers." The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich. — Woody Allen

I need you more and more, and the great world grows wider, and dear ones fewer and fewer, every day that you stay away
— Emily Dickinson

Authors I've longed to write like - but realize I actually can't even begin to - include Poe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kafka, Daniil Kharms, Witold Gombrowicz, Emily Dickinson, Robert Walser, Barbara Comyns, Ntozake Shange, Camille Laurens, Zbigniew Herbert, and Jose Saramago. — Helen Oyeyemi

Prosperity Whose sources are interior. As soon Adversity A diamond overtake. — Emily Dickinson

The reticent volcano keeps
His never slumbering plan -
Confided are his projects pink
To no precarious man. — Emily Dickinson

Forever is composed of nows. - Emily Dickinson — John Green

We trust in plumed procession
For such the angels go
Rank after rank, with even feet/And uniforms of snow. — Emily Dickinson

A Deed knocks first at Thought And then - it knocks at Will - That is the manufacturing spot. — Emily Dickinson

Sappho and Emily Dickinson are the only woman geniuses in poetic history. — Camille Paglia

I'm a Nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? There's a pair of us- don't tell! — Emily Dickinson

'Tis sweet to know that stocks will stand When we with Daisies lie- That Commerce will continue- And Trades as briskly fly. — Emily Dickinson

How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door ... — Emily Dickinson

Nothing is the force that renovates the World. — Emily Dickinson

Beauty is just a light switch away ... 'click!' Beauty is not caused. It is. — Emily Dickinson

Is Bliss then, such Abyss, I must not put my foot amiss For fear I spoil my shoe? I'd rather suit my foot Than save my Boot
For yet to buy another Pair is possible, At any store
But Bliss, is sold just once. The Patent lost None buy it any more
— Emily Dickinson

Time is short and full, like an outgrown Frock - . — Emily Dickinson

Victory comes late
And is held low to freezing lips
Too rapt with frost
To take it — Emily Dickinson

This is my letter to the world That never wrote to me — Emily Dickinson

What inn is this
Where for the night
Peculiar traveller comes?
Who is the landlord?
Where are the maids?
Behold, what curious rooms!
No ruddy fires on the hearth,
No brimming tankards flow.
Necromancer, landlord,
Who are these below? — Emily Dickinson

AMPLE make this bed. Make this bed with awe; In it wait till judgment break Excellent and fair. Be its mattress straight, Be its pillow round; Let no sunrise' yellow noise Interrupt this ground. — Emily Dickinson

A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day. — Emily Dickinson

Forever is made up of nows. — Emily Dickinson

What I treasure most at any moment is intimacy, surprise, a sense of mystery, wit, depth and love. A handful of cherished friends offer me this, and the occasional singer or film-maker or artist. But my most reliable sources of electricity are Henry David Thoreau, Shakespeare, Melville and Emily Dickinson. — Pico Iyer

A color stands abroad on solitary hills that silence cannot overtake, but human nature feels. — Emily Dickinson

Beauty is not the cause of something, it is what it is. — Emily Dickinson

The Ocean's Heart too Smooth - too Blue -
To break for you. — Emily Dickinson

DARE you see a soul at the white heat?
Then crouch within the door.
Red is the fire's common tint;
But when the vivid ore
Has sated flame's conditions, 5
Its quivering substance plays
Without a color but the light
Of unanointed blaze.
Least village boasts its blacksmith,
Whose anvil's even din 10
Stands symbol for the finer forge
That soundless tugs within,
Refining these impatient ores
With hammer and with blaze,
Until the designated light 15
Repudiate the forge. — Emily Dickinson

Earth is crammed with Heaven. — Emily Dickinson

We both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an hour, which keeps believing nimble. — Emily Dickinson

Not all writers want to be profound (though an awful lot of them do); some want to entertain, some want to inform; some are trying to provoke the most basic, universal feeling using a minimum of words-I think of Emily Dickinson -to demonstrate how it is to be human in our crazy world today. — Therese Anne Fowler

Perhaps I asked too large
I take - no less than skies
For Earths, grow thick as
Berries, in my native town
My Basket holds - just - Firmaments
Those - dangle easy - on my arm,
But smaller bundles - Cram. — Emily Dickinson

The smitten rock that gushes, The trampled steel that springs; A cheek is always redder Just where the hectic stings! — Emily Dickinson

Old age comes on suddenly, and not gradually as is thought. — Emily Dickinson

Best Witchcraft is Geometry
To the magician's mind -
His ordinary acts are feats
To thinking of mankind. — Emily Dickinson

There's nothing wicked in Shakespeare, and if there is I don't want to know it. — Emily Dickinson

Saying nothing sometimes says the most. — Emily Dickinson

A heaven in a gaze,
A heaven of heavens, the privilege
Of one another's eyes. — Emily Dickinson

BEQUEST. You left me, sweet, two legacies, - A legacy of love A Heavenly Father would content, Had He the offer of; You left me boundaries of pain Capacious as the sea, Between eternity and time, Your consciousness and me. — Emily Dickinson

There is a pain so utter, it swallows being up;
The covers the abyss with a trance
So memory can step around, across, upon it. — Emily Dickinson

They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse. — Emily Dickinson

Noon - is the Hinge of Day - ... — Emily Dickinson

Judge tenderly of me. — Emily Dickinson

Suspense-is Hostiler than Death-Death- tho soever Broad, Is just Death, and cannot increase- Suspense-does not conclude-. — Emily Dickinson

And you read your emily dickinson,
And I my robert frost.
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what weve lost. — Paul Simon

This quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies,
And Lads and Girls;
Was laughter and ability and sighing,
And frocks and curls.
This passive place a Summer's nimble mansion,
Where Bloom and Bees
Fulfilled their Oriental Circuit,
Then ceased like these. — Emily Dickinson

Those who lift their hats shall see Nature as devout do God. — Emily Dickinson

The will is always near, dear, though the feet vary. — Emily Dickinson

I dwell in Possibility
A fairer House than Prose
More numerous of Windows
Superior - for Doors
Of Chambers as the Cedars
Impregnable of Eye
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky
Of Visitors - the fairest
For Occupation - This
The spreading wide of narrow Hands
To gather Paradise - — Emily Dickinson

I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven. — Emily Dickinson

Truth - is as old as God - ... — Emily Dickinson

Does not Eternity appear dreadful to you. I often get to thinking of it and it seems so dark to me that I almost wish there was no Eternity. To think that we must forever live and never cease to be. It seems as if Death would be a relief to so endless a state of existence. — Emily Dickinson

How do most people live without any thought? There are many people in the world,
you must have noticed them in the street,
how do they live? How do they get strength to put on their clothes in the morning? — Emily Dickinson

My business is circumference. — Emily Dickinson

The distance that the dead have gone Does not at first appear- Their coming back seems possible For many an ardent year. — Emily Dickinson

I confess that I love him, I rejoice that I love him, I thank the maker of Heaven and Earth that gave him to me. The exultation floods me. — Emily Dickinson

If you saw a bullet
hit a Bird - and he told you
he wasn't shot - you might weep
at his courtesy, but you would
certainly doubt his word -
One drop more from the gash
that stains your Daisy's
bosom - then would you believe? — Emily Dickinson

Tell the truth, but tell it slant. — Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson seems rather tame because she pretty much uses the same meter every time. It's called 'common meter.' It's a line of four beats that's followed by a line of three beats. — Billy Collins

To fight aloud is very brave, But gallanter, I know, Who charge within the bosom, The cavalry of woe. — Emily Dickinson

Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself. — Emily Dickinson

Your absence insanes me so
I do not feel so peaceful, when you are gone from me. — Emily Dickinson

Now, when I read, I read not,
For interrupting tears
Obliterate the etchings
Too costly for repairs. — Emily Dickinson

Not to discover weakness is The Artifice of strength. — Emily Dickinson

A light exists in Spring
Not present in the year
at any other period
When March is scarcely here. — Emily Dickinson

Split the Lark - and you'll find the Music, Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled. — Emily Dickinson

Down Time's quaint stream
Without an oar
We are enforced to sail
Our Port a secret
Our Perchance a Gale
What Skipper would
Incur the Risk
What Buccaneer would ride
Without a surety from the Wind
Or schedule of the Tide — Emily Dickinson

Anger as soon as fed is dead-
'Tis starving makes it fat. — Emily Dickinson

After you went, a low wind warbled through the house like a spacious bird, making it high but lonely. When you had gone the love came. I supposed it would. The supper of the heart is when the guest has gone. — Emily Dickinson

It is true that the unknown is the largest need of the intellect, though for it, no one thinks to thank God. — Emily Dickinson

I HIDE myself within my flower
That 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 me
Almost a loneliness ... — Emily Dickinson

I do not feel I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die. — Emily Dickinson

This so much joy! This so much joy! If I should fail, what poverty! And yet, as poor as I Have ventured all upon a throw; Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so this side the victory! — Emily Dickinson

Love can do all but raise the Dead I doubt if even that From such a giant were withheld Were flesh equivalent But love is tired and must sleep, And hungry and must graze And so abets the shining Fleet Till it is out of gaze. — Emily Dickinson

She wanted to know what American writers I liked. "Hawthorne, Henry James, Emily Dickinson ... " "No, living." Ah, well, hmm, let's see: how difficult, the rival factor being what it is, for a contemporary author, or would-be author, to confess admiration for another. At last I said, "Not Hemingway - a really dishonest man, the closet-everything. Not Thomas Wolfe - all that purple upchuck; of course, he isn't living. Faulkner, sometimes: Light in August. Fitzgerald, sometimes: Diamond as Big as the Ritz, Tender Is the Night. I really like Willa Cather. Have you read My Mortal Enemy?" With no particular expression, she said, "Actually, I wrote it. — Truman Capote