We cannot foresee how would our word echo,
And empathy comes to us as the Lord’s grace.
13
—Fyodor Tyutchev, 1869
Most people ignore most poetry
because
most poetry ignores most people.
—Adrian Mitchell, 1964
Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
—G. K. Chesterton, 1909
Poetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
—Jean Cocteau, 1959
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone,
something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
—Paul Dirac, 1958
Good! He did not have enough imagination for mathematics.
—David Hilbert
14
I have nothing to say, and I am saying it, and that is poetry.
—John Cage, 1949
Poetry often enters through the window of irrelevance.
—M. C. Richards, 1962
The office of Poetry is not to make us think accurately, but feel truly.
—Frederick William Robertson, 1852
***
The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion. […] Those who have
never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are
surrounded.
—Herbert Spencer, 1855
The opposition between science and feeling is largely a misunderstanding.
—Arthur Thomson, 1921
Natural knowledge has not forgone emotion. It has simply taken for itself new ground of
emotion, under impulsion from and in sacrifice to that one of its ‘values’, Truth.
—Charles Scott Sherrington, 1940
13
The Russian original is a wonderful (not “free”!) verse, for which I could not find (or produce :-)
a fair poetic translation to English.
14
On the news that one of his students has dropped out to study poetry; as quoted by
David J. Darling in 2004.
On Writing, Literature, Poetry, and Journalism
107
And empathy comes to us as the Lord’s grace.
13
—Fyodor Tyutchev, 1869
Most people ignore most poetry
because
most poetry ignores most people.
—Adrian Mitchell, 1964
Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
—G. K. Chesterton, 1909
Poetry is indispensable – if I only knew what for.
—Jean Cocteau, 1959
In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone,
something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
—Paul Dirac, 1958
Good! He did not have enough imagination for mathematics.
—David Hilbert
14
I have nothing to say, and I am saying it, and that is poetry.
—John Cage, 1949
Poetry often enters through the window of irrelevance.
—M. C. Richards, 1962
The office of Poetry is not to make us think accurately, but feel truly.
—Frederick William Robertson, 1852
***
The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion. […] Those who have
never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are
surrounded.
—Herbert Spencer, 1855
The opposition between science and feeling is largely a misunderstanding.
—Arthur Thomson, 1921
Natural knowledge has not forgone emotion. It has simply taken for itself new ground of
emotion, under impulsion from and in sacrifice to that one of its ‘values’, Truth.
—Charles Scott Sherrington, 1940
13
The Russian original is a wonderful (not “free”!) verse, for which I could not find (or produce :-)
a fair poetic translation to English.
14
On the news that one of his students has dropped out to study poetry; as quoted by
David J. Darling in 2004.
On Writing, Literature, Poetry, and Journalism
107