Ashley > Ashley's Quotes

“I Am Vertical

But I would rather be horizontal.
I am not a tree with my root in the soil
Sucking up minerals and motherly love
So that each March I may gleam into leaf,
Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed
Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,
Unknowing I must soon unpetal.
Compared with me, a tree is immortal
And a flower-head not tall, but more startling,
And I want the one's longevity and the other's daring.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems

“Is it the sea you hear in me?
Its dissatisfactions?
Or the voice of nothing, that was your madness?

Love is a shadow.
How you lie and cry after it.

--from "Elm", written 19 April 1962”
― Sylvia Plath, Ariel: The Restored Edition

“With me, the present is forever, and forever is always shifting, flowing, melting. This second is life. And when it is gone it is dead. But you can't start over with each new second. You have to judge by what is dead. It's like quicksand... hopeless from the start. ”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

--from "Daddy", written 12 October 1962”
― Sylvia Plath, Ariel

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute.”
― Rebecca West, The Young Rebecca: Writings, 1911-1917

“We love the things we love for what they are.”
― Robert Frost

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”
― Robert Frost

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
― Robert Frost

“These woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
― Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”
― Robert Frost

“Freedom lies in being bold.”
― Robert Frost

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”
― Robert Frost

“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.”
― Robert Frost

“Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”
― Robert Frost

“I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.”
― Robert Frost

“Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves.”
― Robert Frost

“The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.”
― Robert Frost

“And were an epitaph to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover's quarrel with the world.”
― Robert Frost

“Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.”
― Robert Frost

“How many things would you attempt
If you knew you could not fail”
― Robert Frost

“Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor.”
― Robert Frost

“You've got to love what's lovable, and hate what's hateable. It takes brains to see the difference.”
― Robert Frost

“I turned to speak to God
About the world's despair
But to make bad matters worse
I found God wasn't there.”
― Robert Frost

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“I drink to make other people more interesting.”
― Hemingway, Ernest

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Maybe...you'll fall in love with me all over again."
"Hell," I said, "I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?"
"Yes. I want to ruin you."
"Good," I said. "That's what I want too.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms