The historian is terribly responsible to what he can discern are the facts of the case, but he's nothing if he doesn't make out a case.

Quote by Howard Nemerov

Topics: Howard Nemerov Quotes

The nice thing about the Bible is it doesn't give you too many facts. Two...

The nice thing about the Bible is it doesn't give you too many facts. Two...

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

A lot happens by accident in poetry.

Obvious enough that generalities work to protect the mind from the great outdoors; is it...

Obvious enough that generalities work to protect the mind from the great outdoors; is it...

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what...

When you write it doesn't occur to you that somebody could think different from what...

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

I would talk in iambic pentameter if it were easier.

Occasionally a student writer comes up with something really beautiful and moving, and you won't...

Occasionally a student writer comes up with something really beautiful and moving, and you won't...

We're not in love with Literature all the time - especially when you have to...

We're not in love with Literature all the time - especially when you have to...

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent...

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent...

I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't...

I think there's one thing which distinguishes our art - we don't consider. We don't...

I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely...

I've never read a political poem that's accomplished anything. Poetry makes things happen, but rarely...

History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. It's...

History is one of those marvelous and necessary illusions we have to deal with. It's...

Language is remarkable, except under the extreme constraints of mathematics and logic, it never can...

Language is remarkable, except under the extreme constraints of mathematics and logic, it never can...

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a...

It may be said that poems are in one way like icebergs: only about a...

For a Jewish Puritan of the middle class, the novel is serious, the novel is...

For a Jewish Puritan of the middle class, the novel is serious, the novel is...

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that...

When I was starting to write, the great influence was T.S. Eliot and after that...

The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told...

The secrets of success are a good wife and a steady job. My wife told...

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

Write what you know. That should leave you with a lot of free time.

Once in awhile you have a thought, and you rhyme it.

Once in awhile you have a thought, and you rhyme it.

Mostly the thought and the verse come inseparably. In my poem Poetics, it's as close...

Mostly the thought and the verse come inseparably. In my poem Poetics, it's as close...

I am not at all clear what free verse is anymore. That's one of the...

I am not at all clear what free verse is anymore. That's one of the...