Lawrence FerlinghettiThis is all very nice, because the ideas that Jack and the Beat generation stood for are needed today more than ever. But I'm not so interested in nostalgia. I'm interested in the… ▶371HopeThoughtTime
Lawrence Ferlinghetti[in the true mad north] of introspection, where 'falcons of the inner eye' dive and die, glimpsing in their dying fall, all life's memory of existence. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghet… ▶373DeathLifePolitics
Lawrence FerlinghettiI am awaiting perpetually and forever a renaissance of wonder ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1994). These are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993, p.104, New Directions Pub… ▶376Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiDon't patronize the chain bookstores. Every time I see some author scheduled to read and sign his books at a chain bookstore, I feel like telling him he's stabbing the independent… ▶356ReadingTime
Lawrence FerlinghettiI once started out to walk around the world but ended up in Brooklyn, that Bridge was too much for me. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1994). These are My Rivers: New & Selected Po… ▶324Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiThe state of the world calls out for poetry to save it. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]328Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiPoetry is a naked woman, a naked man, and the distance between them. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2007). Poetry as Insurgent Art, p.38, New Directions Publishing339Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiConstantly risking absurdity and death whenever he performs above the heads of his audience, the poet, like an acrobat, climbs on rhyme to a high wire of his own making. ✨ A… ▶263DeathPolitics
Lawrence FerlinghettiIt's much easier to consume the visual image than to read something.329Reading
Lawrence FerlinghettiIf you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out.329Thought
Lawrence FerlinghettiI'm reading a book about Romaine Brooks, a wonderful painter from early in the last century.242ReadingSadness
Lawrence FerlinghettiWe have to raise the consciousness; the only way poets can change the world is to raise the consciousness of the general populace.231Humor
Lawrence FerlinghettiFreedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.265Humanity
Lawrence FerlinghettiI feel there is an angel in me' she'd say 'whom I am constantly shocking ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1994). These are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993, p.67, New Dire… ▶298Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiPoetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2007). Poetry as Insurgent Art, p.50, New Directions Publishing299Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiI am waiting for the war to be fought which will make the world safe for anarchy ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1994). These are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993, p.101,… ▶266Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiThey were looking for a stable, but we didn't have one. In fact, we weren't very stable ourselves.245Truth
Lawrence FerlinghettiThe paintings may communicate even better because people are lazy and they can look at a painting with less effort than they can read a poem.278HumanityReadingSadness
Lawrence FerlinghettiMy country tears of thee. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1958). A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems, p.57, New Directions Publishing224PoliticsThought
Lawrence FerlinghettiWe have seen the best minds of our generation destroyed by boredom at poetry readings. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2001). San Francisco Poems, p.2, City Lights Books2810PoliticsReadingThought
Lawrence FerlinghettiThe art has to make it on its own, without explanations, and it’s the same for poetry. If the poem or the painting has to be explained, then it’s a failure in communication.258Sadness
Lawrence FerlinghettiI think if there's a great depression there might be some hope.192HopeThought
Lawrence FerlinghettiPoets, come out of your closets, Open your windows, open your doors, You have been holed up too long in your closed worlds... Poetry should transport the public/to higher places/t… ▶238Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiSee it was like this when we waltz into this place. A couple of papish cats is doing an Aztec two-step And I says Dad let's cut but then this dame comes up behind me see and says … ▶172PoliticsThought
Lawrence FerlinghettiAnyone who saw Nagasaki would suddenly realize that they'd been kept in the dark by the United States government as to what atomic bombs can do.184Politics
Lawrence FerlinghettiRecipe For Happiness Khaborovsk Or Anyplace' One grand boulevard with trees with one grand cafe in sun with strong black coffee in very small cups. One not necessarily very beauti… ▶239LovePolitics
Lawrence FerlinghettiThe future of publishing lies with the small and medium-sized presses, because the big publishers in New York are all part of huge conglomerates.164HopeTime
Lawrence FerlinghettiI didn’t know that painters and writers retired. They’re like soldiers – they just fade away.131DeathSadness
Lawrence FerlinghettiWe were just a one-room bookstore; we didn't have any money for lawyers.143PoliticsReading
Lawrence FerlinghettiDon't bow down to critics who have not themselves written great masterpieces. ✨ Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2001). San Francisco Poems, p.28, City Lights Books2010PoliticsReading
