Edgar Lee Masters > Quotes

“To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire--
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Across Spoon River

“In time you shall see Fate approach you
In the shape of your own image in the mirror.”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Across Spoon River

“What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,
Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you—
It takes life to love Life.”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“The tongue may be an unruly member--
But silence poisons the soul.”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Across Spoon River

“To this generation I would say:
Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Across Spoon River

“I tramped through the country
To get the feeling
That I was not a separate thing from the earth.
I used to lose myself
By lying with eyes half-open in the woods.
Sometimes I talked with animals…”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Across Spoon River

“I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me—
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire—
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“It takes life to love life.”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“There is no marriage in Heaven, but there is love.”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“My name used to be in the papers daily
As having dined somewhere,
Or traveled somewhere,
Or rented a house in Paris,
Where I entertained the nobility.
I was forever eating or traveling,
Or taking the cure at Baden-Baden.
Now I am here to do honor
To Spoon River, here beside the family whence I sprang.
No one cares now where I dined,
Or lived, or whom I entertained,
Or how often I took the cure at Baden-Baden!”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“Henry got me with child,
Knowing that I could not bring forth life
Without losing my own.
In my youth therefore I entered the portals of dust.”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“Rather a thousand times the county jail than to lie under this marble figure with wings and this granite pedestal bearing the words "pro patria." What do they mean anyway?”
― Edgar Lee Masters

“Viandante,
amare è ritrovare la propria anima
traverso l'anima dell'amato.
Quando l'amato se ne stacca,
allora tu l'hai perduta.
E' scritto: "Ho un amico,
ma il mio dolore non ha amici".”
― Edgar Lee Masters, Across Spoon River