We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.

Quote by William Butler Yeats

Topics: William Butler Yeats Quotes

The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are...

The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are...

I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.'

I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.'

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless...

An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless...

Out of Ireland have we come, great hatred, little room, maimed us at the start....

Out of Ireland have we come, great hatred, little room, maimed us at the start....

Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those...

Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief, than from those...

Come swish around, my pretty punk, And keep me dancing still That I may stay...

Come swish around, my pretty punk, And keep me dancing still That I may stay...

The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of...

The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of...

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. O when may it...

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. O when may it...

True love is a discipline in which each divines the secret self of the other...

True love is a discipline in which each divines the secret self of the other...

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered...

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered...

The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.

The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.

Books are but waste paper unless we spend in action the wisdom we get from...

Books are but waste paper unless we spend in action the wisdom we get from...

A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love.

A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love.

I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.

I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of...

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of...

The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.

The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

This melancholy London - I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled...

This melancholy London - I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled...

Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not...

Those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not...

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best...

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best...