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Christian Wiman Quotes

It’s just that different emotions and perceptions demand different frequencies and intensities Picture Quote #1

Mandelstam was an artistic genius, the sort that any century produces only a handful of Picture Quote #1

Mandelstam - his gift and the untamable nature of it - was like a thorn in Stalin’s brain Picture Quote #1

I’m drawn to this range, that’s for sure, but I suppose the thing that most appeals to me about Mandelstam is the sense you get from every poem that everything - the poet’s very soul - is at stake Picture Quote #1

I think of translations as passing some scholarly smell test: you can read the words of the translation and be reasonably sure of what the words are in the original Picture Quote #1

Nature poets can’t walk across the backyard without tripping over an epiphany Picture Quote #1

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Art is so often better at theology than theology is Picture Quote #1

God is with us, not beyond us, in suffering Picture Quote #1

Wonder is the precondition for all wisdom Picture Quote #1

I suppose I do believe that the greatest art consoles a wound that it creates, that art can give you the capacity to endure and respond to the pain it forces you to feel. Psychological pain, I mean Picture Quote #1

There is nothing more difficult to outgrow than anxieties that have become useful to us, whether as explanations for a life that never quite finds its true force or direction, or as fuel for ambition, or as a kind of reflexive secular religion that, paradoxically, unites us with others in a shared sense of complete isolation: you feel at home in the world only by never feeling at home in the world Picture Quote #1

To be truly alive is to feel one’s ultimate existence within one’s daily existence Picture Quote #1

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I find myself continually falling back into wounds, wishes, terrors I thought I had risen beyond Picture Quote #1

Sorrow is so woven through us, so much a part of our souls, or at least any understanding of our souls that we are able to attain, that every experience is dyed with its color. This is why, even in moment of joy, part of that joy is the seams of ore that are our sorrow. They burn darkly and beautifully in the midst of joy, and they make joy the complete experience that it is. But they still burn Picture Quote #1

At some point you have to believe that the inadequacies of the words you use will be transcended by the faith with which you use them. You have to believe that poetry has some reach into reality itself, or you have to go silent Picture Quote #1

There are dangers for an artist in any academic environment. Academia rewards people who know their own minds and have developed an ironclad confidence in speaking them. That kind of assurance is death for an artist Picture Quote #1

Poetry has its uses for despair. It can carve a shape in which a pain can seem to be; it can give one’s loss a form and dimension so that it might be loss and not simply a hopeless haunting. It can do these things for one person, or it can do them for an entire culture. But poetry is for psychological, spiritual, or emotional pain. For physical pain it is, like everything but drugs, useless Picture Quote #1

I’ve never been able to write poetry without having vast tracts of dead time. Poetry requires a certain kind of disciplined indolence that the world, including many prose writers, doesn’t recognize as discipline. It is, though. It’s the discipline to endure hours that you refuse to fill with anything but the possibility of poetry, though you may in fact not be able to write a word of it just then, and though it may be playing practical havoc with your life. It’s the discipline of preparedness Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

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Text Quotes

It’s just that different emotions and perceptions demand different frequencies and intensities (Christian Wiman Quotes) Mandelstam was an artistic genius, the sort that any century produces only a handful of (Christian Wiman Quotes) Mandelstam - his gift and the untamable nature of it - was like a thorn in Stalin’s brain (Christian Wiman Quotes) I’m drawn to this range, that’s for sure, but I suppose the thing that most appeals to me about Mandelstam is the sense you get from every poem that everything - the poet’s very soul - is at stake (Christian Wiman Quotes) I think of translations as passing some scholarly smell test: you can read the words of the translation and be reasonably sure of what the words are in the original (Christian Wiman Quotes) Nature poets can’t walk across the backyard without tripping over an epiphany (Christian Wiman Quotes) Art is so often better at theology than theology is (Christian Wiman Quotes) God is with us, not beyond us, in suffering (Christian Wiman Quotes) Wonder is the precondition for all wisdom (Christian Wiman Quotes) I suppose I do believe that the greatest art consoles a wound that it creates, that art can give you the capacity to endure and respond to the pain it forces you to feel. Psychological pain, I mean (Christian Wiman Quotes) There is nothing more difficult to outgrow than anxieties that have become useful to us, whether as explanations for a life that never quite finds its true force or direction, or as fuel for ambition, or as a kind of reflexive secular religion that, paradoxically, unites us with others in a shared sense of complete isolation: you feel at home in the world only by never feeling at home in the world (Christian Wiman Quotes) To be truly alive is to feel one’s ultimate existence within one’s daily existence (Christian Wiman Quotes) I find myself continually falling back into wounds, wishes, terrors I thought I had risen beyond (Christian Wiman Quotes) Sorrow is so woven through us, so much a part of our souls, or at least any understanding of our souls that we are able to attain, that every experience is dyed with its color. This is why, even in moment of joy, part of that joy is the seams of ore that are our sorrow. They burn darkly and beautifully in the midst of joy, and they make joy the complete experience that it is. But they still burn (Christian Wiman Quotes) At some point you have to believe that the inadequacies of the words you use will be transcended by the faith with which you use them. You have to believe that poetry has some reach into reality itself, or you have to go silent (Christian Wiman Quotes) There are dangers for an artist in any academic environment. Academia rewards people who know their own minds and have developed an ironclad confidence in speaking them. That kind of assurance is death for an artist (Christian Wiman Quotes) Poetry has its uses for despair. It can carve a shape in which a pain can seem to be; it can give one’s loss a form and dimension so that it might be loss and not simply a hopeless haunting. It can do these things for one person, or it can do them for an entire culture. But poetry is for psychological, spiritual, or emotional pain. For physical pain it is, like everything but drugs, useless (Christian Wiman Quotes) I’ve never been able to write poetry without having vast tracts of dead time. Poetry requires a certain kind of disciplined indolence that the world, including many prose writers, doesn’t recognize as discipline. It is, though. It’s the discipline to endure hours that you refuse to fill with anything but the possibility of poetry, though you may in fact not be able to write a word of it just then, and though it may be playing practical havoc with your life. It’s the discipline of preparedness (Christian Wiman Quotes)