From 'the lesson of the moth':and before i could argue himout of his philosophyhe went and immolated himselfon a patent cigar lighteri do not agree with himmyself i would rather havehalf the happiness and twicethe longevitybut at the same time i wishthere was something i wantedas badly as he wanted to fry himself
~ Don Marquis
a spider and a flyi heard a spiderand a fly arguingwait said the flydo not eat mei serve a great purposein the worldyou will have toshow me said the spideri scurry aroundgutters and sewersand garbage canssaid the fly and gatherup the germs oftyphoid influenzaand pneumonia on my feetand wingsthen i carry these germsinto households of menand give them diseasesall the people whohave lived the rightsort of life recoverfrom the diseasesand the old soaks whohave weakened their systemswith liquor and iniquitysuccumb it is my missionto help rid the worldof these wicked personsi am a vessel of righteousnessscattering seeds of justiceand serving the noblest usesit is true said the spiderthat you are moreuseful in a ploddingmaterial sort of waythan i am but i do notserve the utilitarian deitiesi serve the gods of beautylook at the gossamer websi weave they float in the sunlike filaments of songif you get what i meani do not work at anythingi play all the timei am busy with the stuffof enchantment and the materialsof fairyland my workstranscend utilityi am the artista creator and demi godit is ridiculous to supposethat i should be deniedthe food i need in orderto continue to createbeauty i tell youplainly mister fly it is alldamned nonsense for that foodto rear up on its hind legsand say it should not be eatenyou have convinced mesaid the fly say no moreand shutting all his eyeshe prepared himself for dinnerand yet he said i couldhave made out a casefor myself too if i hadhad a better line of talkof course you could said the spiderclutching a sirloin from himbut the end would have beenjust the same if neither ofus had spoken at allboss i am afraid that whatthe spider said is trueand it gives me to thinkfuriously upon the futilityof literaturearchy
Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.
i have had my ups and downsbut wotthehell wotthehellyesterday sceptres and crownsfried oysters and velvet gownsand today i herd with bumsbut wotthehell wotthehelli wake the world from sleepas i caper and sing and leapwhen i sing my wild free tunewotthehell wotthehellunder the blear eyed mooni am pelted with cast off shoonbut wotthehell wotthehell
With regard to ghosts, while we have never believed in them, we have always been afraid of them.
Every honorable man is forced to yield to blackmail once or twice in his life, just for the sake of keeping peace in the community.
If a child shows himself to be incorrigible, he should be decently and quietly beheaded at the age of twelve, lest he grow to maturity, marry, and perpetuate his kind.
you want to knowwhether i believe in ghostsof course i do not believe in themif you had knownas many of them as i haveyou would notbelieve in them either
Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
An optimist is a man who has never had much experience.
it wont be long now it wont be longman is making deserts of the earthit wont be long nowbefore man will have used it upso that nothing but antsand centipedes and scorpionscan find a living on it....what man calls civilizationalways results in deserts....men talk of money and industryof hard times and recoveriesof finance and economicsbut the ants wait and the scorpions waitfor while men talk they are making deserts all the timegetting the world ready for the conquering antdrought and erosion and desertbecause men cannot learn....it wont be long now it wont be longtill earth is barren as the moonand sapless as a mumbled bone
justice...is not inherent in the universe and what man has put there he uses when he uses it at all strictly for his own purposes the world is so sad that the only way to live with it is to laugh at it
A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimist.
An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe in it.
In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that child's parent or grandparent.
It is better to be happy for the moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while.
Ours is a world where people don't know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it.
Friends I beg you do not shirk your daily task of indolence.
An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
Punctuality is one of the cardinal business virtues: always insist on it in your subordinates.
When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'
Of middle age the best that can be said is that a middle-aged person has likely learned how to have a little fun in spite of his troubles.
Middle age is the time when a man is always thinking that in a week or two he will feel as good as ever.
Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.
Happiness is the interval between periods of unhappiness.
I would rather start a family than finish one.
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
A pessimist is a person who has had to listen to too many optimists.
Every cloud has its silver lining but it is sometimes a little difficult to get it to the mint.
Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.
Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.
Poetry is what Milton saw when he went blind.
