Emily Dickinson, one of America’s greatest and most enigmatic poets, left behind a treasure trove of poetic insight wrapped in short, powerful lines. Though she lived a quiet, reclusive life in Amherst, Massachusetts, her inner world was vast. Through over 1,800 poems—many unpublished in her lifetime—Dickinson explored themes of love, death, nature, faith, pain, and hope.
Her words continue to move readers with their depth and simplicity. Emily Dickinson didn’t write to impress; she wrote to express—with elegance, precision, and startling truth. In this article, we’ll explore 40 of the most poignant Emily Dickinson quotes, grouped into four themes: On Hope and the Soul, On Love and Longing, On Death and Immortality, and On Life and Nature.
1. On Hope and the Soul
Dickinson’s view of hope is gentle but powerful. For her, hope lived in the soul, a silent force that endured even life’s harshest storms.
10 Quotes on Hope and the Soul
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“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops—at all.”
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“We never know how high we are till we are called to rise.”
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“Forever is composed of nows.”
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“I dwell in possibility.”
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“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”
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“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”
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“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.”
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“Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.”
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“They might not need me—but they might. I’ll let my head be just in sight; a smile as small as mine might be precisely their necessity.”
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“The soul selects her own society, then shuts the door.”
Dickinson’s reflections on hope are delicate but unshakeable. Her voice assures us that hope exists quietly within us—even when all else fades. It is not loud, but it is enduring.
2. On Love and Longing
Love in Dickinson’s poetry is often ethereal, unspoken, or filled with longing. She experienced love intensely, though much of it remained private and mysterious—just like her life.
10 Quotes on Love and Longing
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“Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.”
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“That love is all there is, is all we know of love.”
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“If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.”
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“Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell.”
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“My life closed twice before its close—it yet remains to see if Immortality unveil a third event to me.”
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“The heart wants what it wants—or else it does not care.”
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“A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.”
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“I argue thee that love is life. And life hath immortality.”
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“I’m nobody! Who are you? Are you—nobody—too?”
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“He touched me so I live to know that such a day, permitted so, I groped upon his breast.”
Love, for Dickinson, is boundless yet deeply personal. Whether felt from afar or lived in quiet moments, her words on love are tender, intimate, and timeless.
3. On Death and Immortality
Death was a frequent companion in Dickinson’s work—not feared, but deeply contemplated. She approached mortality with curiosity, often blending it with spiritual insight and acceptance.
10 Quotes on Death and Immortality
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“Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.”
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“I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – The Stillness in the Room was like the Stillness in the Air – Between the Heaves of Storm.”
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“We outgrow love like other things and put it in the drawer—Till it an antique fashion shows—Like costumes grandsires wore.”
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“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.”
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“It is not dying hurts us so—Tis living—hurts us more.”
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“And then a Plank in Reason, broke—And I dropped down, and down—And hit a World, at every plunge.”
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“One need not be a chamber to be haunted.”
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“He fumbles at your Soul as Players at the Keys—Before they drop full Music on—He stuns you by degrees.”
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“The dying need but little, dear—A glass of water’s all, A flower’s unobtrusive face to punctuate the wall.”
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“The distance that the dead have gone does not at first appear—Their coming back seems possible for many an ardent year.”
For Dickinson, death was neither end nor terror—it was a threshold. Her meditations on mortality are hauntingly beautiful, rich with emotion and a deep spiritual awareness.
4. On Life and Nature
Emily Dickinson’s connection to nature was profound. Her poems celebrate the quiet beauty of the world around her—bees, birds, sunlight, and the seasons were her constant companions and muses.
10 Quotes on Life and Nature
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“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, and revery. The revery alone will do, if bees are few.”
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“Morning without you is a dwindled dawn.”
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“Nature is a haunted house—but Art—a house that tries to be haunted.”
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“The earth has many keys, Where melody is not Is the unknown peninsula.”
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“A light exists in spring, Not present on the year At any other period.”
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“I taste a liquor never brewed—From Tankards scooped in Pearl—Not all the Frankfort Berries yield Such an intoxicating swirl.”
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“The sky is low, the clouds are mean.”
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“Summer is shorter than any season.”
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“Bring me the sunset in a cup.”
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“The grass so little has to do—A sphere of simple green—With only butterflies to brood, And bees to entertain.”
Dickinson’s nature imagery is quiet, profound, and full of wonder. She found the infinite in the ordinary, reminding us to pause and see the beauty in every season of life.
Final Thoughts
Emily Dickinson didn’t chase fame. She chased meaning. Through her poems and personal lines, she gave us a voice that was soft yet fierce, isolated yet universal. Her quotes continue to inspire readers to reflect, to feel, and to find power in the inward journey.
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”
In just a few words, Dickinson captured what many spend a lifetime trying to say.
Her legacy lives not just in literature—but in every soul that’s ever sought comfort in a quiet poem.