Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.
Bertolt Brecht
Quotations, whether inspirational or thought-provoking, reflect much about our outlook on life. Poetry especially has been a rich source of such lines, with poets offering carefully crafted stanzas that capture the human experience in unforgettable ways. As the Indian poet Nissim Ezekiel once wrote, “Poetry is an endless adventure into the unknown.”
From timeless verses to reflections on the art itself, poets across generations have left behind words that resonate deeply with readers. Kamala Das, one of India’s most influential voices, reminds us of poetry’s honesty: “I write because I have no other way to express the rawness of my being.” These insights remind us that poetry isn’t just literature—it’s guidance, inspiration, and a way to connect more deeply with the world.
Poetry Quotes By Famous Poets In English
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be the blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
- When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
Maya Angelou - Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Oscar Wilde - Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
Walt Whitman - “I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.”
100 Love Sonnets
- “We love the things we love for what they are.”
Robert Frost - No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
William Blake - I slept and dreamt that life was a joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore - Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of intelligence.
Edgar Allan Poe
Inspirational Quotes From Poetry
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the road less traveled by.
Robert Frost
This quote is from Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," which is one of his most famous works. In this poem, the speaker reflects on a moment when they came across a metaphorical fork in the road. The choice of which path to take symbolizes the decisions and choices we face in life.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost
The specific lines you've mentioned, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the road less traveled by," highlight the speaker's decision to take the less common or unconventional path.
This choice, taking the less-traveled path, becomes a metaphor for the speaker's individualism and willingness to make unique choices. It represents their independence and the idea that, in life, the decisions we make can have a significant impact on our journeys and experiences.
If you're looking for platforms where you can connect with fellow poets and share your work, you might want to explore some of the best places to find and share your poetry.
Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter has some amazing characters and wonderful quotes in English. Albus Dumbledore conveys an important message about the effect of words on other human beings. We must choose to be kind to others and saying good things to others can go a long way.
- Words as a Source of Magic: In the world of Harry Potter, magic is a central theme, and spells are cast using specific words and incantations. Dumbledore is drawing a parallel between the magic of the wizarding world and the magic that words hold in our everyday lives. He suggests that words have a kind of enchantment and transformative power, much like spells do in their world.
- Inexhaustible Source: The word "inexhaustible" means something that can never be used up or depleted. Dumbledore emphasizes that words are an endless source of power and wonder. They can inspire, educate, console, and connect people in countless ways. There's no limit to the effects and emotions that words can evoke.
In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
Robert Frost
Life goes on regardless of what you face in life, whether happiness or adversity. Everything in life is a phase, we can only grow through it if we go through it. Robert Frost's words remind us how we must not forget to believe in our ability to move forward.
One of the most profound English quotes of all time, it reminds us that our life is a journey. And, in our quest to find our purpose, we may find ourselves lost in the process of it all. One must remember that our lives are not defined by the mistakes we make or the things we lose, we must perceive life as an endless challenge and live to tell the tale.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The quote means that our past and future are not as important as our inner selves. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on our inner thoughts, emotions, and values rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
Beautiful Poetry Lines from Famous Poems
The literary scene and the practice of poetry writing have been around for millennia, so there has been plenty of time for it to produce and circulate poems of all genres and forms.
The result of thousands of years of poetic tradition can be seen in the way poetry has become a wide and diverse art form in its own right. Another consequence of the prevalence of poetry throughout history has been the common knowledge of various recognizable lines of poetry from a wide range of authors and time periods.
A great way to gain exposure and challenge yourself as a poet is by entering poetry competitions, where you can showcase your talent and even win exciting prizes.
And thus the heart will break, yet brokenly live on.
Lord Byron
This poignant quote from Lord Byron’s narrative poem, Childe Harolde’s Pilgrimage, expresses the melancholic view of the world that many of his companions held in the early 1800’s. The poem documents the travels of a young, privileged man who has become fed up with his lifestyle, and travels the world to find a deeper meaning.
This line brings an end to the lyrical ballad, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. As a wedding guest who ends up missing the party as he is prevented from entering it by the Mariner, who has a painful need to tell his story. After having listened to the Mariner’s tale, and being advised by the Mariner to love others, the wedding guest decides that he does not want to attend the party after all and returns home to sleep.
As the famous lines go, he awoke the next morning sadder yet wiser. Perhaps this highlights that sometimes, one must endure emotional hardship in order to grow as a person.
This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare
One of the most famous lines from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, many people hold this as a lesson by which to live their lives. Said by the character Polonius, this phrase points out that as long as one is true to oneself, there is no need to attempt to be true to any other person.
Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favour.
Robert Frost
This striking affirmation from The Black Cottage, penned in 1915 by American poet, Robert Frost, tells of the permanence and subjectivity of the world in which we live. As a whole, the poem features two characters: the poet and a minister. While the minister speaks of the changes he nearly made to his church service to accommodate the younger members of his congregation, it becomes apparent that he has trouble dealing with the change happening around him. It is at this point that the poet offers an alternative view of change: that perceived change may sometimes be due to changing opinions, rather than concrete change itself.
In this pessimistic line from the 13th canto of the satiric poem, Don Juan, Lord Byron states his view on the way the world was heading in the early 19th century. He views people as belonging to one of two groups: the bored (those who bore others) and the bored (those who are bored by the bored).
Once you're ready to take the next step, understanding the process of publishing and submitting your poetry is crucial to getting your work out there.
Society is now one polish'd horde, form'd of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored.
Lord Byron
Not only does this highlight Lord Byron’s view of the public as uninteresting, but it also portrays society as dependent and inward-looking. Byron’s poem was based on the famous Spanish legend of Don Juan, however, as he is a satirical work, Byron has inverted the story and portrayed the hero as a desperate man.
To Autumn: Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
John Keats
The famous Ode to Autumn, written by John Keats in 1819 starts with this as its first line. Throughout the poem, Keats personifies the season and details the characteristics that give it its distinctive feel – perhaps his putting an atmosphere into words is what makes this poem so popular.
Quotes About Poetry
There are no greater poetry experts than the poets themselves. During the past few centuries, many remarks have been made on the place poetry holds in culture, the process of crafting a poem, and what sets poetry aside from other forms of literature.
Here are some of the most famous things that have been said about poetry by poets themselves:
Prose = words in their best order; Poetry = the best words in the best order.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Ironically, this is one of Coleridge’s best-known quotes, however, it is not something he wrote; it’s something he said, which was jotted down by his nephew. It’s not difficult to decipher the meaning: while writing in full sentences which follow grammatical rules suits the way a language explains concepts, sticking to a specific structure or rhyme scheme and carefully choosing the words to fit is what makes poetry different from prose.
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.
William Wordsworth
This famous definition comes from the preface to Wordsworth’s collection of lyrical ballads and expresses his opinion on how poetry should be inspired. Wordsworth’s belief that poetry is borne of the experiencing and acknowledging of emotion is typical of poets writing in the romantic era that he helped begin.
Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
Robert Frost
Frost’s controversial opinion of free verse is that it is easier to write than other poetic structures as it is less restrictive. He shared this opinion in the early 20th century, at a time when the use of free verse in contemporary poetry had steadily been rising.
Free verse poetry is characterised by its lack of a specific metre, and free verse poems are usually organised instead by ideas or imagery. Some poets whose work has been categorised as ‘free verse’ include Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams.
Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air.
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg’s view of poetry as the thoughts and feelings of creative minds who feel out of place in the world in which they live. In addition, this quotation also draws attention to the ability of poetry to offer a means of making something of the impossible and turning dreams into something creative.
Poetry is what in a poem makes you laugh, cry, prickle, be silent, makes your toe nails twinkle, makes you want to do this or that or nothing, makes you know that you are alone in the unknown world, that your bliss and suffering is forever shared and forever all your own.
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas’ detailed explanation of what aspects of a poem define poetry outlines the large variety of effects poems can have on readers, as well as explaining the value that reading and writing poetry can add to the human experience. This quote tells of how poetry goes beyond words to make people feel something, whether it be strength, unity or another, indescribable feeling.
If you feel your work is good enough why not enter a poetry competition or publish your poem into a book for people to read?
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Very much useful
I am searching for an English poem that ends in ” The straight and crooked are in him.”