Emily Dickinson > Quotes

“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.”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“A not admitting of the wound
Until it grew so wide
That all my Life had entered it”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“We both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an hour, which keeps believing nimble.”
― Emily Dickinson

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

“If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.”
― Emily Dickinson

“Grant me, O Lord, a sunny mind-Thy windy will to bear!”
― Emily Dickinson

“Over the fence—
Strawberries— grow—
Over the fence—
I could climb— if I tried, I know—
Berries are nice!

But— if I stained my Apron—
God would certainly scold!
Oh, dear, — I guess if He were a Boy—
He'd— climb— if He could!”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Earth is crammed with Heaven.”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“There is a pain – so utter –
It swallows substance up –
Then covers the Abyss with Trance –
So Memory can step
Around – across – opon it –
As one within a Swoon –
Goes safely – where an open eye –
Would drop Him – Bone by Bone.”
― Emily Dickinson

“To wait an Hour—is long—
If Love be just beyond—
To wait Eternity—is short—
If Love reward the end—”
― Emily Dickinson

“A Bird came down the Walk –
He did not know I saw –
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass –
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass –
...”
― Emily Dickinson

“Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell.”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Faith slips - and laughs, and rallies”
― Emily Dickinson

“We grow accustomed to the dark when light is put away--”
― Emily Dickinson

“Forgive me if I never visit. I am from the fields, you know, and while quite at home with the dandelions, make a sorry figure in a drawing room.”
― Emily Dickinson

“I would have drowned twice to save you sinking, dear.”
― Emily Dickinson

“We never know we go,—when we are going
We jest and shut the door;
Fate following behind us bolts it,
And we accost no more.”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“It is finished, is never said of us ”
― Emily Dickinson

“Love is Immortality.”
― Emily Dickinson

“My life had stood--a Loaded Gun--
In Corners--till a Day
The Owner passed--identified--
And carried Me away--

And now We roam in Sovereign Woods--
And now We hunt the Doe--
And every time I speak for Him--
The Mountains straight reply--

And do I smile, such cordial light
Upon the Valley glow--
It is as a Vesuvian face
Had let its pleasure through--

And when at Night--Our good Day done--
I guard My Master's Head--
'Tis better than the Eider-Duck's
Deep Pillow--to have shared--

To foe of His--I'm deadly foe--
None stir the second time--
On whom I lay a Yellow Eye--
Or an emphatic Thumb--

Though I than He--may longer live
He longer must--than I--
For I have but the power to kill,
Without--the power to die--”
― Emily Dickinson

“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
― Emily Dickinson

“This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,--
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!”
― Emily Dickinson

“I dwell in Possibility—
A fairer House than Prose—
More numerous of Windows—
Superior—for Doors—

Of Chambers as the Cedars—
Impregnable of Eye—
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky—

Of Visitors—the fairest—
For Occupation—This—
The spreading wide of narrow Hands
To gather Paradise—”
― Emily Dickinson

“But it is growing damp and I must go in. Memory’s fog is rising.”
― Emily Dickinson, Selected Letters

“We journey to the day,
And tell each other how we sang
To keep the dark away.”
― Emily Dickinson

“You left me, sweet, two legacies,
A legacy of love
A Heavenly Father would content,
Had He the offer of;

You left me boundaries of pain
Capacious as the sea,
Between eternity and time,
Your consciousness and me.”
― Emily Dickinsonck

“Los que son amados no pueden morir,
Porque amor significa inmortalidad.”
― Emily Dickinson

“Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play --
In accidental power --
The blonde Assassin passes on --
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.”
― Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Could you tell me how to grow--or is it unconveyed--like Melody--or Witchcraft?”
― Emily Dickinson

“I many times thought peace had come,
When peace was far away;
As wrecked men deem they sight the land
At centre of the sea,

And struggle slacker, but to prove,
As hopelessly as I,
How many the fictitious shores
Before the harbor lie.”
― Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems