John Ciardi Quotes and Sayings - Page 1

“Within a single scene, it seems to be unwise to have access to the inner reflections of more than one character. The reader generally needs a single character as the means of perception, as the character to whom the events are happening, as the character with whom he is to empathize in order to have the events of the writing happen to him.”
-- John Ciardi

#Writing #Character #Mean

“The day will happen whether or not you get up.”
-- John Ciardi

#Taking Action

“Men marry what they need. I marry you.”
-- John Ciardi

#Marriage #Men #Needs

“The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it.”
-- John Ciardi

#World #Classroom #Entrances

“Every game ever invented by mankind, is a way of making things hard for the fun of it!”
-- John Ciardi

#Fun #Games #Way

“Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.”
-- John Ciardi

#Girl #Art #Sex

“You have to fall in love with hanging around words.”
-- John Ciardi

#Falling In Love #Fall

“Poetry lies its way to the truth.”
-- John Ciardi

#Lying #Poetry #Way

“Early to bed and early to rise probably indicates unskilled labor.”
-- John Ciardi

#Business #Bed #Labor

“There's nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.”
-- John Ciardi

#Drinking #Sobriety #Moderation

“Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.”
-- John Ciardi

#Love #Relationship #Romance

“A dollar saved is a quarter earned.”
-- John Ciardi

#Dollars #Quarters

“You don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.”
-- John Ciardi

#Inspirational #Sarcastic #Children

“The constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.”
-- John Ciardi

#Giving #Fool #Constitution

“Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.”
-- John Ciardi

#Genius

“A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students.”
-- John Ciardi

#Inspirational #Education #Teenager

“A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.”
-- John Ciardi

#Change #Ideas #Growth

“Fermentation and civilization are inseparable.”
-- John Ciardi

#Civilization #Alcohol #Inseparable

“What has any poet to trust more than the feel of the thing? Theory concerns him only until he picks up his pen, and it begins to concern him again as soon as he lays it down.”
-- John Ciardi

#Poet #Theory #Concern

“The reader deserves an honest opinion. If he doesn't deserve it, give it to him anyhow.”
-- John Ciardi

#Giving #Opinion #Honest

“Who could believe an ant in theory? A giraffe in blueprint? Ten thousand doctors of what's possible Could reason half the jungle out of being.”
-- John Ciardi

#Believe #Animal #Doctors

“A man is what he does with his attention and mine is not for sale.”
-- John Ciardi

#Men #Doe #Attention

“A savage is simply a human organism that has not received enough news from the human race.”
-- John Ciardi

#Race #Civilization #Savages

“Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.”
-- John Ciardi

#Honesty #Temptation #Ability

“Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.”
-- John Ciardi

#Gone #Rich #Ancestor

“General rules have been legislated into being by past masters.”
-- John Ciardi

#Writing #Past #Masters

“Boys are the cash of war.”
-- John Ciardi

#War #Boys #Cash

“I have one head that wants to be good, And one that wants to be bad. And always, as soon as I get up, One of my heads is sad.”
-- John Ciardi

#Want #Be Good

“I'm smiled out, talked out, quipped out, socialized so far from any being, I need the weight of mortal silences to get realized back into myself.”
-- John Ciardi

#Tired #Silence #Needs

“The public library is the most dangerous place in town”
-- John Ciardi

#Library #Towns #Dangerous