Emily Dickinson Quotes

Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true

A charm invests a face Imperfectly beheld,— The lady dare not lift her veil For fear it be dispelled. But peers beyond her mesh, And wishes, and denies,— Lest interview annul a want That image satisfies.

The Heart wants what it wants - or else it does not care

The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him is aristocracy.

She died--this was the way she died; And when her breath was done, Took up her simple wardrobe And started for the sun. Her little figure at the gate The angels must have spied, Since I could never find her Upon the mortal side.

Write me of hope and love, and hearts that endured.

The world allured me & in an unguarded moment I listened to her siren voice. From that moment I seemed to lose interest in heavenly things. Friends reasoned with me & told me of the danger I was in. I felt my danger & was alarmed, but I had rambled too far to return & ever since my heart has been growing harder.

One need not be a chamber to be haunted.

THE soul should always stand ajar, That if the heaven inquire, He will not be obliged to wait, Or shy of troubling her. Depart, before the host has slid The bolt upon the door, To seek for the accomplished guest, -- Her visitor no more.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-- Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind--

Friends are nations in themselves.

Here is a little forest Whose leaf is ever green; Here is a brighter garden, Where not a frost has been; In its unfading flowers I hear the bright bee hum; Prithee, my brother, Into my garden come!

There's a certain slant of light, On winter afternoons, That oppresses, like the weight Of cathedral tunes.

Existence has overpowered Books. Today I slew a Mushroom.

I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness.

I can wade Grief -- Whole Pools of it -- I'm used to that -- But the least push of Joy Breaks up my feet -- And I tip -- drunken -- Let no Pebble -- smile -- 'Twas the New Liquor -- That was all!

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chilliest land And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

You cannot fold a flood and put it in a drawer, because the winds would find it out and tell your cedar floor.

Just a turn of the doorknob, and there lies freedom.

The appetite for silence is seldom an acquired taste.

To travel far, there is no better ship than a book.

Much Madness is divinest Sense -- To a discerning Eye -- Much Sense -- the starkest Madness -- 'Tis the Majority In this, as All, prevail -- Assent -- and you are sane -- Demur -- you're straightway dangerous -- And handled with a Chain --

An ear can break a human heart As quickly as a spear, We wish the ear had not a heart So dangerously near.

I tasted life.

PHOSPHORESCENCE. Now there's a word to lift your hat to... to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that's the genius behind poetry.

I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.

My life closed twice before its close

Those who lift their hats shall see Nature as devout do God.

You cannot put a fire out! A thing that can ignite can go itself- without a flame- E'en through the darkest night!

Within thy Grave! Oh no, but on some other flight - Thou only camest to mankind To rend it with Good night

If Aims impel these Astral Ones The ones allowed to know Know that which makes them as forgot As Dawn forgets them now

What shall we do my darling, when trial grows more, and more, when the dim, lone light expires, and it's dark, so very dark, and we wander, and know not where, and cannot get out of the forest - whose is the hand to help us, and to lead, and forever guide us? ... Where do you think I've strayed and from what new errand returned. I have come from to and fro, and walking up and down the same place that Satan hailed from when God asked where he'd been.

You don't have to be a house to be haunted.

Spring's first conviction is a wealth beyond its whole experience.

My love for those I love -- not many -- not very many, but don't I love them so?

The poet lights the light and fades away. But the light goes on and on.

God's unique capacity is too surprising to surprise.

Assent - and you are sane - Demur - and you're straightaway dangerous - and handled with a chain.

Those who have not found the heaven below, will fail of it above.

I never saw a meme; I never saw the sea.

Pain - has an Element of Blank It cannot recollect When it begun - or if there were a time when it was not - It has no Future - but itself - Its Infinite contain Its Past - enlightened to perceive New Periods - of Pain.

It was a quiet way - He asked if I was his - I made no answer of the tongue But answer of the eyes - And then He bore me on Before this mortal noise With swiftness, as of Chariots and distance, as of Wheels. This World did drop away As acres from the feet of one that leaneth from Balloon Upon an Ether Street. The Gulf behind was not, The Continents were new - Eternity was due. No Seasons were to us - It was not Night nor Morn - But Sunrise stopped upon the place And Fastened in Dawn.

The steeples swam in amethyst, the news like squirrels swam.

To be alive──is Power.

My best Acquaintances are those With Whom I spoke no Word

Drunkards of summer are quite as frequent as Drunkards of wine.

Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself.

How very sad it is to have a confiding nature, one's hopes and feelings are quite at the mercy of all who come along; and how very desirable to be a stolid individual, whose hopes and aspirations are safe in one's waistcoat pocket, and that a pocket indeed, and one not to be picked!