The First Four Books of Poems Quotes

“At the great feast there is always the outsider, the stranger to joy...

[from 'Morning']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“As for her mother's tears: ridiculous, and yet
mothers weep at their daughters' weddings,
everyone knows that, though
for whose youth one cannot say.

[from 'Morning']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“The brave are patient.
They are the priests of sunrise,
lions on the ramparts, the promontory.

[from 'From the Japanese']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“How short it seemed, that lifetime of waiting--
this red star blazing over the bay
was all the light of his childhood
that had followed him here.

[from 'The End of the World. I. Terra Nova']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Beauty dies: that is the source
of creation....

[from 'Hyacinth']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“...envy
is a dance, too; the need to hurt
binds you to your partner.

[from 'Tango']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“I think now it is better to love no one
than to love you. ...

[from 'Here Are My Black Clothes']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“So the gods sank to human shape with longing.”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“We’ve been apart too long, too painfully separated.
How can you bear to dream,

— Louise Glück, from section V “Night Song,” of “Marathon,” The First Four Books of Poems (Ecco, 1995)”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Unfortunate being, have you ceased to feel
the grandeur of the world
that, like a heavy weight, shaped
the soul of my grandfather?

[from 'Legend']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Unfortunate being, have you ceased to feel
the grandeur of the world
that, like a heavy weight, shaped
the soul of my grandfather?”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Though the great soul is said to be
a star, a beacon,
what it resembles better is a diamond:
in the whole world there is nothing
hard enough to change it.

[from 'Legend']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Early summer: fog covers the mountains.
Under each tree, a doily of shade.

[from 'From the Japanese']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Only victims have a destiny.

[from 'Liberation']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Above the churned reeds, the leaves let go
a slow moan of silver.

[from 'Nocturne”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“O pitiful, so needing
God's furious love---

[from 'Nocturne']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“...what death claims
it does not abandon.

[from 'Rosy']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“Had you died when we were together
I would have wanted nothing of you.
Now I think of you as dead, it is better.
...
And you never say
-Leave me-
since the dead do not like being alone.

[from 'The Fire']”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems

“...always
Staring at that man, hearing the click,
Click of his brain's whirling empty spindle...

[from 'Returning a Lost Child'}”
― Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems