Straw for the Fire Quotes

“Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste. It's what everything else isn't.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“It’s your privilege to find me incomprehensible. I gave you my minutes; let them remain ours. I hope I haunt you.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“I trust all joy”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“O my poor words, bear with me.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“I slept with Yes, but woke to No.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“O my poor words, bear with me. — Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke, ed. David Wagoner (Copper Canyon Press November 1, 2006)”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Remind yourself once more of the absolute holiness of your task.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“You must believe: a poem is a holy thing--a good poem, that is.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“The greatest assassin of life is haste.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“People can and do understand poetry but they don't want to: it is a danger.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“In poetry, there are no casual readers.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“After Mr. Richard M. Nixon, I feel that sincerity is no longer possible as a public attitude.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Democracy: where the semi-literate make laws and the illiterate enforce them.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“What a frail but persistent weapon civilization is: how fragile the handful of concepts: yet tough as wire.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“The professor is supposed to know. I am not of that breed.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Once a week, take a day off to be generous-minded.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Listen to the haters: they may remind you of new ways to love.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“We can forgive others everything but our own weaknesses.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“The great mystery of Christianity is how it has lasted so long.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Will's a heady master: don't follow.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Wisdom increases and is a burden. I know too many people and why I should love them, and the thought that I love them imperfectly is a constant vexation. My half-life continues. The great error of the American condition: to forget that people are humanity--I don't mean in the cliche sense--but are a part of the whole stream of history, and, whatever else they may be in the Here and Now, should be respected and considered, and loved as far as possible and not thought of as students, colleagues, anonymous neighbors.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Civilization is overrated: but there isn't anything much else.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“To be less than you are is so easy: even a child needs no lessons in this.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Surely goodness and mercy can be more choosy.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“In spite of all the paraphernalia for keeping things together, how haphazard life is, and the judgments of time.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Teaching: one of the few professions that permit love.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“Even a piece of bad writing can have its own mysterious life, and be a fascination.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“A poetry of longing: not for escape, but for a greater reality.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke

“The poem should provide that break, that vision into reality which relieves and makes alive.”
― Theodore Roethke, Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke