Emily Dickinson (Writer)

God is sitting here, looking into my very soul to see if I think right thoughts. Yet I am not afraid, for I try to be right and good; and He knows every one of my struggles.

GLEE! the great storm is over! Four have recovered the land; Forty gone down together Into the boiling sand. Ring, for the scant salvation! Toll, for the bonnie souls,— Neighbor and friend and bridegroom, Spinning upon the shoals! How they will tell the shipwreck When winter shakes the door, Till the children ask, “But the forty? Did they come back no more?” Then a silence suffuses the story, And a softness the teller’s eye; And the children no further question, And only the waves reply.

— Emily Dickinson soul

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 life

MUCH madness is divinest sense To a discerning eye; Much sense the starkest madness. ’T is the majority In this, as all, prevails. Assent, and you are sane; Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous, And handled with a chain.

— Emily Dickinson anger

I NEVER hear the word “escape” Without a quicker blood, A sudden expectation, A flying attitude. I never hear of prisons broad By soldiers battered down, But I tug childish at my bars,— Only to fail again!

— Emily Dickinson attitude

SURGEONS must be very careful When they take the knife! Underneath their fine incisions Stirs the culprit,—Life!

— Emily Dickinson care

IT tossed and tossed,— A little brig I knew,— O’ertook by blast, It spun and spun, And groped delirious, for morn. It slipped and slipped, As one that drunken stepped; Its white foot tripped, Then dropped from sight. Ah, brig, good-night To crew and you; The ocean’s heart too smooth, too blue, To break for you.

— Emily Dickinson art

I TOOK my power in my hand And went against the world; ’T was not so much as David had, But I was twice as bold. I aimed my pebble, but myself Was all the one that fell. Was it Goliath was too large, Or only I too small?

— Emily Dickinson power

MINE enemy is growing old,— I have at last revenge. The palate of the hate departs; If any would avenge,— Let him be quick, the viand flits, It is a faded meat. Anger as soon as fed is dead; ’T is starving makes it fat.

— Emily Dickinson art

IT ’S such a little thing to weep, So short a thing to sigh; And yet by trades the size of these We men and women die!

— Emily Dickinson women

DROWNING is not so pitiful As the attempt to rise. Three times, ’t is said, a sinking man Comes up to face the skies, And then declines forever To that abhorred abode Where hope and he part company,— For he is grasped of God. The Maker’s cordial visage, However good to see, Is shunned, we must admit it, Like an adversity.

— Emily Dickinson hope

WHO has not found the heaven below Will fail of it above. God’s residence is next to mine, His furniture is love.

— Emily Dickinson love

UPON the gallows hung a wretch, Too sullied for the hell To which the law entitled him. As nature’s curtain fell The one who bore him tottered in, For this was woman’s son. “’T was all I had,” she stricken gasped; Oh, what a livid boon!

— Emily Dickinson nature

FATE slew him, but he did not drop; She felled—he did not fall— Impaled him on her fiercest stakes— He neutralized them all. She stung him, sapped his firm advance, But, when her worst was done, And he, unmoved, regarded her, Acknowledged him a man.

— Emily Dickinson knowledge

IT might be easier To fail with land in sight, Than gain my blue peninsula To perish of delight.

— Emily Dickinson light

HOW happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone, And does n’t care about careers, And exigencies never fears; Whose coat of elemental brown A passing universe put on; And independent as the sun, Associates or glows alone, Fulfilling absolute decree In casual simplicity.

— Emily Dickinson fear

NEW feet within my garden go, New fingers stir the sod; A troubadour upon the elm Betrays the solitude. New children play upon the green, New weary sleep below; And still the pensive spring returns, And still the punctual snow!

— Emily Dickinson children

THE PEDIGREE of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy.

— Emily Dickinson love

THE GRASS so little has to do,— A sphere of simple green, With only butterflies to brood, And bees to entertain, And stir all day to pretty tunes The breezes fetch along, And hold the sunshine in its lap And bow to everything; And thread the dews all night, like pearls, And make itself so fine,- A duchess were too common For such a noticing. And even when it dies, to pass In odors so divine, As lowly spices gone to sleep, Or amulets of pine. And then to dwell in sovereign barns, And dream the days away,— The grass so little has to do, I wish I were a hay!

— Emily Dickinson dream

PRESENTIMENT is that long shadow on the lawn Indicative that suns go down; The notice to the startled grass That darkness is about to pass.

— Emily Dickinson art

IT makes no difference abroad, The seasons fit the same, The mornings blossom into noons, And split their pods of flame. Wild-flowers kindle in the woods, The brooks brag all the day; No blackbird bates his jargoning For passing Calvary. Auto-da-f

— Emily Dickinson loss

LOVE is anterior to life, Posterior to death, Initial of creation, and The exponent of breath.

— Emily Dickinson life

THERE is a word Which bears a sword Can pierce an armed man. It hurls its barbed syllables,— At once is mute again. But where it fell The saved will tell On patriotic day, Some epauletted brother Gave his breath away. Wherever runs the breathless sun, Wherever roams the day, There is its noiseless onset, There is its victory! Behold the keenest marksman! The most accomplished shot! Time’s sublimest target Is a soul “forgot”!

— Emily Dickinson soul

HEART, we will forget him! You and I, to-night! You may forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light. When you have done, pray tell me, That I my thoughts may dim; Haste! lest while you’re lagging, I may remember him!

— Emily Dickinson war

I NEVER saw a moor, I never saw the sea; Yet know I how the heather looks, And what a wave must be. I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given.

— Emily Dickinson art

I REASON, earth is short, And anguish absolute. And many hurt; But what of that? I reason, we could die: The best vitality Cannot excel decay; But what of that? I reason that in heaven Somehow, it will be even, Some new equation given; But what of that?

— Emily Dickinson art

NO rack can torture me, My soul ’s at liberty. Behind this mortal bone There knits a bolder one You cannot prick with saw, Nor rend with scymitar. Two bodies therefore be; Bind one, and one will flee. The eagle of his nest No easier divest And gain the sky, Than mayest thou, Except thyself may be Thine enemy; Captivity is consciousness, So’s liberty.

— Emily Dickinson soul

A DEATH-BLOW is a life-blow to some Who, till they died, did not alive become; Who, had they lived, had died, but when They died, vitality begun.

— Emily Dickinson life

OUR journey had advanced; Our feet were almost come To that odd fork in Being’s road, Eternity by term. Our pace took sudden awe, Our feet reluctant led. Before were cities, but between, The forest of the dead. Retreat was out of hope,— Behind, a sealed route, Eternity’s white flag before, And God at every gate.

— Emily Dickinson hope

THAT such have died enables us The tranquiller to die; That such have lived, certificate For immortality.

— Emily Dickinson live

THE DISTANCE that the dead have gone Does not at first appear; Their coming back seems possible For many an ardent year. And then, that we have followed them We more than half suspect, So intimate have we become With their dear retrospect.

— Emily Dickinson man

BLESS God, he went as soldiers, His musket on his breast; Grant, God, he charge the bravest Of all the martial blest. Please God, might I behold him In epauletted white, I should not fear the foe then, I should not fear the fight.

— Emily Dickinson fear

IMMORTAL is an ample word When what we need is by, But when it leaves us for a time, ’T is a necessity. Of heaven above the firmest proof We fundamental know, Except for its marauding hand, It had been heaven below.

— Emily Dickinson time

SO proud she was to die It made us all ashamed That what we cherished, so unknown To her desire seemed. So satisfied to go Where none of us should be, Immediately, that anguish stooped Almost to jealousy.

— Emily Dickinson desire

FAME is a fickle food Upon a shifting plate, Whose table once a Guest, but not The second time, is set. Whose crumbs the crows inspect, And with ironic caw Flap past it to the Farmer’s corn; Men eat of it and die.

— Emily Dickinson time

THE BLUNDER is to estimate,— “Eternity is Then,” We say, as of a station. Meanwhile he is so near, He joins me in my ramble, Divides abode with me, No friend have I that so persists As this Eternity.

— Emily Dickinson friend

THERE is a solitude of space, A solitude of sea, A solitude of death, but these Society shall be, Compared with that profounder site, That polar privacy, A Soul admitted to Itself: Finite Infinity.

— Emily Dickinson death

NATURE is what we see, The Hill, the Afternoon— Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee, Nay—Nature is Heaven. Nature is what we hear, The Bobolink, the Sea— Thunder, the Cricket— Nay,—Nature is Harmony. Nature is what we know But have no art to say, So impotent our wisdom is To Her simplicity.

— Emily Dickinson wisdom

SOME Days retired from the rest In soft distinction lie, The Day that a companion came— Or was obliged to die.

— Emily Dickinson lie

THE SWEETS of Pillage can be known To no one but the Thief, Compassion for Integrity Is his divinest Grief.

— Emily Dickinson passion

THE FACE we choose to miss, Be it but for a day— As absent as a hundred years When it has rode away.

— Emily Dickinson day

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Little, Brown and Co., 1960

— Emily Dickinson poem

Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires a sorest need. Not one of all the purple Host Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition So clear of Victory As he defeated — dying — On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear!

— Emily Dickinson sweet

"Faith" is a fine invention When Gentlemen can see — But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency.

— Emily Dickinson men

"Hope" is the thing with feathers — That perches in the soul — And sings the tune without the words — And never stops — at all — And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard — And sore must be the storm — That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm —

— Emily Dickinson war

I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you — Nobody — Too?

— Emily Dickinson body

How dreary — to be — Somebody! How public — like a Frog — To tell one's name — the livelong June — To an admiring Bog!

— Emily Dickinson live

The Soul selects her own Society — Then — shuts the Door — To her divine Majority — Present no more —

— Emily Dickinson divine

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church — I keep it, staying at Home— With a Bobolink for a Chorister — And an Orchard, for a Dome—

— Emily Dickinson home

God preaches, a noted Clergyman — And the sermon is never long, So instead of getting to Heaven, at last— I’m going, all along.

— Emily Dickinson man

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 love

I died for Beauty — but was scarce Adjusted in the Tomb, When One who died for Truth, was lain In an adjoining Room — He questioned softly "Why I failed"? "For Beauty," I replied. "And I — for Truth, — Themself are One — We Brethren, are", He said —

— Emily Dickinson self

Dreams — are well — but Waking's better, If One wake at Morn — If One wake at Midnight — better — Dreaming — of the Dawn —

— Emily Dickinson night

Love — thou art Veiled — A few — behold thee — Smile — and alter — and prattle — and die — Bliss — were an Oddity — without thee — Nicknamed by God — Eternity —

— Emily Dickinson art

I heard a Fly buzz — when I died — The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air — Between the Heaves of Storm —

— Emily Dickinson die

Because I could not stop for Death — He kindly stopped for me — The Carriage held but just Ourselves — And Immortality. We slowly drove — He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility —

— Emily Dickinson age

Since then — 'tis Centuries — and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity —

— Emily Dickinson war

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 —

— Emily Dickinson time

We outgrow love, like other things And put it in the Drawer — Till it an Antique fashion shows — Like Costumes Grandsires wore.

— Emily Dickinson love

A Grave — is a restricted Breadth — Yet ampler than the Sun — And all the Seas He populates And lands he looks upon To Him who on its small Repose Bestows a single Friend — Circumference without Relief — Or Estimate — or End

— Emily Dickinson sin

To Whom the Mornings stand for Nights, What must the Midnights — be!

— Emily Dickinson night

A Vastness, as a Neighbor, came, A Wisdom, without Face, or Name, A Peace, as Hemispheres at Home And so the Night became.

— Emily Dickinson wit

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind —

— Emily Dickinson light

Could Hope inspect her Basis Her Craft were done — Has a fictitious Charter Or it has none — Balked in the vastest instance But to renew — Felled but by one assassin — Prosperity —

— Emily Dickinson art

Not with a Club, the Heart is broken Nor with a Stone — A Whip so small you could not see it I've known To lash the Magic Creature Till it fell, Yet that Whip's Name Too noble then to tell. Magnanimous as Bird By Boy descried — Singing unto the Stone Of which it died — Shame need not crouch In such an Earth as Ours — Shame — stand erect — The Universe is yours.

— Emily Dickinson art

More than the Grave is closed to me — The Grave and that Eternity To which the Grave adheres — I cling to nowhere till I fall — The Crash of nothing, yet of all — How similar appears —

— Emily Dickinson fall

If Aims impel these Astral Ones The ones allowed to know Know that which makes them as forgot As Dawn forgets them — now

— Emily Dickinson

Who has not found the Heaven — below — Will fail of it above —

— Emily Dickinson heaven

I took one Draught of Life — I'll tell you what I paid — Precisely an existence — The market price, they said.

— Emily Dickinson existence

I dwell in possibility.

— Emily Dickinson possibility

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.

— Emily Dickinson soul

They might not need me; but they might. I'll let my head be just in sight; a smile as small as mine might be precisely their necessity.

— Emily Dickinson smile

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.

— Emily Dickinson art

Forever is composed of nows.

— Emily Dickinson forever

Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.

— Emily Dickinson love

Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.

— Emily Dickinson death

If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.

— Emily Dickinson poetry

My friends are my estate.

— Emily Dickinson friends

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

— Emily Dickinson time

Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.

— Emily Dickinson man

Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.

— Emily Dickinson life

Saying nothing... sometimes says the most.

— Emily Dickinson time

Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.

— Emily Dickinson man

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

— Emily Dickinson soul

Beauty is not caused. It is.

— Emily Dickinson beauty

Morning without you is a dwindled dawn.

— Emily Dickinson you

For love is immortality.

— Emily Dickinson love

Tell the truth, but tell it slant.

— Emily Dickinson truth

Fortune befriends the bold.

— Emily Dickinson friends

Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.

— Emily Dickinson smile

The brain is wider than the sky.

— Emily Dickinson rain

A wounded deer leaps the highest.

— Emily Dickinson

It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.

— Emily Dickinson

After great pain, a formal feeling comes. The Nerves sit ceremonious, like tombs.

— Emily Dickinson pain

That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.

— Emily Dickinson life

I measure every grief I meet with narrow, probing eyes - I wonder if it weighs like mine - or has an easier size.

— Emily Dickinson grief

Share your thoughts on Emily Dickinson quotes with the community: