Mary Oliver quotes

Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.

One thing I do know is that poetry, to be understood, must be clear.

I had a very dysfunctional family, and a very hard childhood. So I made a world out of words. And it was my salvation.

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.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

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.

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

I believe art is utterly important. It is one of the things that could save us.

Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they're thirsty. That's prayer. They don't live an unconscious life, they simply have no language to talk about these things. But they are grateful for the good things that come along.

I very much wished not to be noticed, and to be left alone, and I sort of succeeded.

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.

Poetry is meant to be heard.

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.

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.

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.