Mary Oliver is an American poet. She is popular for her sense of wonder, natural imagery simple language and made herself a lot of fans. This article is a tribute to one of the most beloved American poets, as we are sharing some of the best Mary Oliver Quotes that you would love to read and share.
Mary Oliver Inspirational Quotes
It’s very important to write things down instantly, or you can lose the way you were thinking out a line. I have a rule that if I wake up at 3 in the morning and think of something, I write it down. I can’t wait until morning – it’ll be gone. Mary Oliver
I worked probably 25 years by myself, just writing and working, not trying to publish much, not giving readings. Mary Oliver
If I’ve done my work well, I vanish completely from the scene. I believe it is invasive of the work when you know too much about the writer. Mary Oliver
Writers sometimes give up what is most strange and wonderful about their writing – soften their roughest edges – to accommodate themselves toward a group response. Mary Oliver
I consider myself kind of a reporter – one who uses words that are more like music and that have a choreography. I never think of myself as a poet; I just get up and write. Mary Oliver
There were times over the years when life was not easy, but if you’re working a few hours a day and you’ve got a good book to read, and you can go outside to the beach and dig for clams, you’re okay. Mary Oliver
I think one thing is that prayer has become more useful, interesting, fruitful, and… almost involuntary in my life. Mary Oliver
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver
As a child, what captivated me was reading the poems myself and realizing that there was a world without material substance that was nevertheless as alive as any other. Mary Oliver
In college, you learn how to learn. Four years is not too much time to spend at that. Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver Best Quotes
I simply do not distinguish between work and play. Mary Oliver
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. Mary Oliver
To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work. Mary Oliver
I was very careful never to take an interesting job. If you have an interesting job, you get interested in it. Mary Oliver
Almost anything is too much. I am trying in my poems to have the reader be the experiencer. I do not want to be there. It is not even a walk we take together. Mary Oliver
Poetry isn’t a profession, it’s a way of life. It’s an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that. Mary Oliver
I very much wished not to be noticed, and to be left alone, and I sort of succeeded. Mary Oliver
One thing I do know is that poetry, to be understood, must be clear. Mary Oliver
To find a new word that is accurate and different, you have to be alert for it. Mary Oliver
We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I stayed where I was happy. Mary Oliver
Famous Mary Oliver Quotes
So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray. Mary Oliver
I love the line of Flaubert about observing things very intensely. I think our duty as writers begins not with our own feelings, but with the powers of observing. Mary Oliver
I have a notebook with me all the time, and I begin scribbling a few words. When things are going well, the walk does not get anywhere; I finally just stop and write. Mary Oliver
My first two books are out of print and, okay, they can sleep there comfortably. It’s early work, derivative work. Mary Oliver
I have a notion that if you are going to be spiritually curious, you better not get cluttered up with too many material things. Mary Oliver
To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. Mary Oliver
I decided very early that I wanted to write. But I didn’t think of it as a career. I didn’t even think of it as a profession… It was the most exciting thing, the most powerful thing, the most wonderful thing to do with my life. Mary Oliver
My parents didn’t care very much about what I did, and that was probably a blessing. Mary Oliver
I had a very dysfunctional family and a very hard childhood. So I made a world out of words. And it was my salvation. Mary Oliver
I’d rather write about polar bears than people. Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver Poetry Quotes
Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth. Mary Oliver
The challenge is to keep up with all the new poets at the same time I love the old ones. Mary Oliver
Words have not only a definition… but also the felt quality of their own kind of sound. Mary Oliver
I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place. Yet each has its own force. Mary Oliver
Wasn’t it Emerson who said, ‘My life is for itself and not for a spectacle’? I have a happy, full, good life because I hold it private. Mary Oliver
I always feel that whatever isn’t necessary shouldn’t be in a poem. Mary Oliver
People want poetry. They need poetry. They get it. They don’t want fancy work. Mary Oliver
I worked privately, and sometimes I feel that might be better for poets than the kind of social workshop gathering. My school was the great poets: I read, and I read, and I read. Mary Oliver
The woods that I loved as a child are entirely gone. The woods that I loved as a young adult are gone. The woods that most recently I walked in are not gone, but they’re full of bicycle trails. Mary Oliver
Instead of taking the reader by the hand and running him down the hill, I want to lead him into a house of many rooms, and leave him alone in each of them. Mary Oliver