I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.
William Butler YeatsOnly that which does not teach, which does not cry out, which does not condescend, which does not explain, is irresistible.
William Butler YeatsA line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
William Butler YeatsThough I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.
William Butler YeatsBefore The World Was Made If I make the lashes dark and the eyes more bright and the lips more scarlet, or ask if all be right from mirror after mirror, no vanity's displayed: I'm looking for the face I had before the world was made. What if I look upon a man as though on my beloved, and my blood be cold the while and my heart unmoved? Why should he think me cruel or that he is betrayed? I'd have him love the thing that was before the world was made.
William Butler YeatsLife is a journey up a spiral staircase; as we grow older we cover the ground covered we have covered before, only higher up; as we look down the winding stair below us we measure our progress by the number of places where we were but no longer are. The journey is both repetitious and progressive; we go both round and upward.
William Butler Yeats