Robert GravesHaunted Gulp down your wine, old friends of mine, Roar through the darkness, stamp and sing And lay ghost hands on everything, But leave the noonday's warm sunshine To living lads… ▶371DeathLifeTime
Robert GravesAs was the custom in such cases, the pear tree was charged with murder and sentenced to be uprooted and burned. ✨ Robert Graves, Richard Francis (2000). I, Claudius ; and, C… ▶371Humanity
Robert GravesThere is one story and one story only. ✨ Robert Graves, Frank L. Kersnowski (1989). Conversations with Robert Graves, p.73, Univ. Press of Mississippi376Sadness
Robert GravesIf I were a girl, I'd despair. The supply of good women far exceeds that of the men who deserve them. ✨ Robert Graves, Frank L. Kersnowski (1989). Conversations with Robert … ▶335Philosophy
Robert GravesThe function of poetry is religious invocation of the muse; its use is the experience of mixed exaltation and horror that her presence excites. ✨ Robert Graves (2011). The W… ▶3710Life
Robert GravesNo honest theologian therefore can deny that his acceptance of Jesus as Christ logically binds every Christian to a belief in reincarnation - in Elias case (who was later John the… ▶359Truth
Robert GravesLove at first sight'some say misnaming Discovery of twinned helplessness Against the huge tug of procreation. But friendship at first sight? This also Catches fiercely at the surp… ▶348Love
Robert GravesPoetry began in the matriarchal age, and derives its magic from the moon, not from the sun. No poet can hope to understand the nature of poetry unless he has had a vision of the N… ▶294DeathHope
Robert GravesThere's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money, either. ✨ Robert Graves, Frank L. Kersnowski (1989). Conversations with Robert Graves, p.71, Univ. Press of … ▶306Reading
Robert GravesThe difference between you and her (whom I to you did once prefer) Is clear enough to settle: She like a diamond shone, but you Shine like an early drop of dew Poised on a red ros… ▶317Reading
Robert GravesA banker warned the British poet Robert Graves that one could not grow rich writing poetry. He replied that if there was no money in poetry, there was certainly no poetry in money… ▶328Thought
Robert GravesPhilosophy is antipoetic. Philosophize about mankind and you brush aside individual uniqueness, which a poet cannot do without self-damage. Unless, for a start, he has a strong pe… ▶3310HumanityPhilosophyPolitics
Robert GravesThough philosophers like to define poetry as irrational fancy, for us it is practical, humorous, reasonable way of being ourselves. ✨ Robert Graves, Patrick J. Quinn (2000).… ▶241HumorReading
Robert GravesProse books are the show dogs I breed and sell to support my cat. ✨ Robert Graves, Frank L. Kersnowski (1989). Conversations with Robert Graves, p.71, Univ. Press of Mississ… ▶253Reading
Robert GravesWhen the immense drugged universe explodes In a cascade of unendurable colour And leaves us gasping naked, This is no more than the ectasy of chaos: Hold fast, with both hands, to… ▶275LoveTruth
Robert GravesGenius not only diagnoses the situation but supplies the answers.319Truth
Robert GravesThe gas-cylinders had by this time been put into position on the front line. A special order came round imposing severe penalties on anyone who used any word but accessory in spea… ▶243Time
Robert GravesNever use the word 'audience.' The very idea of a public, unless the poet is writing for money, seems wrong to me. Poets don't have an 'audience'. They're talking to a single pers… ▶232DeathThoughtTime
Robert GravesIn love as in sport, the amateur status must be strictly maintained. ✨ Robert Graves (1936). The Future of Swearing and Improper Language309HopeLoveTime
Robert GravesHardly one soldier in a hundred was inspired by religious feeling of even the crudest kind. It would have been difficult to remain religious in the trenches even if one had surviv… ▶254DeathReading
Robert GravesTo know only one thing well is to have a barbaric mind: civilization implies the graceful relation of all varieties of experience to a central humane system of thought. The presen… ▶299HumanityLifeThought
Robert GravesShe tells her love while half asleep, In the dark hours, With half-words whispered low: As Earth stirs in her winter sleep And puts out grass and flowers Despite the snow, Despite… ▶299Love
Robert GravesTo be a poet is a condition rather than a profession. ✨ Reply to questionnaire, The Cost of Letters, in Horizon magazine, September 1946.234Reflection
Robert GravesYou mean that people who continue virtuous in an old-fashioned way must inevitably suffer in times like these? ✨ Robert Graves (1982). Claudius the God and His Wife Messalin… ▶212DeathHumanityTime
Robert GravesI was thinking, So, I’m Emperor, am I? What nonsense! But at least I'll be able to make people read my books now. ✨ Robert Graves, Richard Francis (2000). I, Claudius ; and,… ▶201HumanityReadingThought
Robert GravesWe once discussed which were the cleanest troops in the trenches, taken by nationalities. We agreed on a descending-order like this: English and German Protestants; Northern Irish… ▶224Love
Robert GravesShe told me that all the girls in Annezin prayed every night for the war to end and for the English to go away as soon as their money was spent. She said that the clause about the… ▶246Sadness
Robert GravesSince the age of 15 poetry has been my ruling passion and I have never intentionally undertaken any task or formed any relationship that seemed inconsistent with poetic principles… ▶224LoveTime
Robert GravesThere should be two main objectives in ordinary prose writing: to convey a message and to include in it nothing that will distract the reader's attention or check his habitual pac… ▶236Reading
Robert GravesMarriage, like money, is still with us; and, like money, progressively devalued. ✨ Robert Graves (1965). Mammon and the black goddess247Hope
