Quotes of James Fenton - somelinesforyou

“ God, A Poem 'I didn't exist at Creation, I didn't exist at the Flood, And I won't be around for Salvation To sort out the sheep from the cud 'Or whatever the phrase is. The fact is In soteriological terms I'm a crude existential malpractice And you are a diet of worms ”

- James Fenton

“ God, A Poem 'I didn't exist at Creation, I didn't exist at the Flood, And I won't be around for Salvation To sort out the sheep from the cud 'Or whatever the phrase is. The fact is In soteriological terms I'm a crude existential malpractice And you are a diet of worms ”

- James Fenton

“ It is not what they built. It is what they knocked down. It is not the houses. It is the spaces between the houses. It is not the streets that exist. It is the streets that no longer exist. ”

- James Fenton

“ Babies are not brought by storks, and poets are not produced by workshops. ”

- James Fenton

“ One does not become a guru by accident. ”

- James Fenton

“ The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation. ”

- James Fenton

“ The poem that says "I love you" is the little black cocktail dress, the classic thing that everyone would like to have written one of. ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done. ”

- James Fenton

“ Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done. ”

- James Fenton

“ The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation. ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ One does not become a guru by accident. ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation. ”

- James Fenton

“ It has to be displayed, this face, on a more or less horizontal plane. Imagine a man wearing a mask, and imagine that the elastic which holds the mask on has just broken, so that the man (rather than let the mask slip off) has to tilt his head back and balance the mask on his real face… ”

- James Fenton

“ It has to be displayed, this face, on a more or less horizontal plane. Imagine a man wearing a mask, and imagine that the elastic which holds the mask on has just broken, so that the man (rather than let the mask slip off) has to tilt his head back and balance the mask on his real face… ”

- James Fenton

“ Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done. ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done. ”

- James Fenton

“ One does not become a guru by accident. ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton

“ One does not become a guru by accident. ”

- James Fenton

“ Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done. ”

- James Fenton

“ Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done. ”

- James Fenton

“ The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation. ”

- James Fenton

“ The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint. ”

- James Fenton

“ Those who actually set out to see the fall of a city or those who choose to go to a front line, are obviously asking themselves to what extent they are cowards. But the tests they set themselves — there is a dead body, can you bear to look at it? — are nothing in comparison with the tests that are sprung on them… ”

- James Fenton
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