Marianne Moore

"Beauty requires no explanation when encountered directly."

"We are more awake when we question our certainties."

"The act of noticing is itself a form of love."

"Structure is the garment of meaning."

"Distance lends objectivity but not indifference."

"Moral progress requires uncomfortable clarity."

"The mind is an enchanting thing."

"I wonder what Adam and Eve think of it by now."

"Effort is felt by the person making it, but how can we know the effort that goes into restraint?"

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

"The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence."

"Ecstasy affords the occasion and expediency determines the form."

"One might paraphrase that 'if I do not know the word for something, it may not exist.'"

"Armor's affecting grace, as sweet as any Swiss cheese hole."

"I felt a funeral in my brain."

"The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease."

"The little prince would eat a sheep if he found one."

"Conviction is not something static; it is a living thing."

"Magnanimity is not just a virtue; it is a way of seeing."

"Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads in them."

"We must be as clear as our native water."

"There is nothing wrong with saying what you believe in."

"Progress is not determined by effort alone."

"Silence is an alluring thing."

"The world breaks everyone, and some are strong at the broken places."

"Humility, concentration, and gusto—the artist needs all three."

"I dislike myself when I think of my life."

"The capacity for growth depends on the capacity for change."

"Business documents and school-books are the poetry of my world."

"One cannot be always laughing at a man without amassing a reputation for joking."