Mary Oliver Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Mary Oliver quotes, Mary Oliver sayings, and Mary Oliver proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift" Mary Oliver
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift. Mary Oliver
Poetry is a life-cherishing force. And it requires a vision – a faith, to use an old fashioned term. Yes, indeed. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry. Yes, indeed. Mary Oliver
Attention without feeling-is only a report. Mary Oliver
What can we do but keep on breathing in and out, modest and willing, and in our places? Mary Oliver
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift. Mary Oliver
There is a notion that creative people are absent-minded, reckless, heedless of social customs and obligations. It is, hopefully, true for they are in another world altogether. Mary Oliver
When loneliness comes stalking, go into the fields, consider the orderliness of the world. Mary Oliver
You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life. Mary Oliver
Sometimes breaking the rules is extending the rules. Mary Oliver
Rhythm is one of the most powerful of pleasures, and when we feel a pleasurable rhythm we hope it will continue. When it does, it grows sweeter. Mary Oliver
I don't ask for the sights in front of me to change, only the depth of my seeing. Mary Oliver
Listen, are you breathing just a little and calling it a life? Mary Oliver
A mind that is lively and inquiring, compassionate, curious, angry, full of music, full of feeling, is a mind full of possible poetry. Mary Oliver
There is a notion that creative people are absent-minded, reckless, heedless of social customs and obligations. It is, hopefully, true for they are in another world altogether. Mary Oliver
Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dark trees that one could easily imagine its reason for being was nothing more than prettiness. Mary Oliver
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. Mary Oliver
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world. Mary Oliver
Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable. Mary Oliver
Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life? Mary Oliver
You are breathing patiently; it is a beautiful sound. It is your life, which is so close to my own that I would not know. Mary Oliver
Someone I once loved gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. Mary Oliver
You, too, can be carved anew by the details of your devotion. Mary Oliver
But the owls themselves are not hard to find, silent and on the wing, with their ear tufts flat against their heads as they fly and their huge wings alternately gliding and flapping as they maneuver through the trees. Athena's owl of wisdom and Merlin's companion, Archimedes, were screech owls surely, not this bird with the glassy gaze, restless on the bough, nothing but blood on its mind. Mary Oliver
it is a serious thing, just to be alive, on this fresh morning, in this broken world. Mary Oliver
Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields. Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness. Mary Oliver
So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing, and put your lips to the world. And live your life. Mary Oliver
Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable. Mary Oliver
"Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dark trees that one could easily imagine its reason for being was nothing more than prettiness." Mary Oliver