Poetry isnt a profession, its a way of life. Its an empty basket you put your life into it and make something out of that. – Mary Oliver
Its very important to write things down instantly, or you can lose the way you were thinking out a line. I have a rule that if I wake up at 3 in the morning and think of something, I write it down. I cant wait until morning – itll be gone. – Mary Oliver
When its 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. – Mary Oliver
I simply do not distinguish between work and play. – Mary Oliver
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. I spent a great deal of time in my younger years just writing and reading, walking around the woods in Ohio, where I grew up. – Mary Oliver
I very much wished not to be noticed, and to be left alone, and I sort of succeeded. – Mary Oliver
To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work. – Mary Oliver
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. – Mary Oliver
Is there anything more loyal than the sun? – Mary Oliver
Listen, are you breathing just a little and calling it a life? – Mary Oliver
What can we do but keep on breathing in and out, modest and willing, and in our places? – Mary Oliver
We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it. – Mary Oliver
