John Ciardi Quotes

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.
John Ciardi

Love, Young, Old

Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
John Ciardi

Dad, Time, Hope

The day will happen whether or not you get up.
John Ciardi

Happen, Whether

A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
John Ciardi

Good, Hope, Place

There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.
John Ciardi

Nothing, Wrong, Sobriety

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students.
John Ciardi

College, Interest, Students

The reader deserves an honest opinion. If he doesn't deserve it, give it to him anyhow.
John Ciardi

Him, Give, Opinion

Nothing goes further toward a man's liberation than the act of surviving his need for character.
John Ciardi

Character, Nothing, Act

The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it.
John Ciardi

Escape, Classroom, Entrance

You don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.
John Ciardi

Poetry, Enough, Suffering

Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.
John Ciardi

Happen, Genius, Happened

Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.
John Ciardi

Art, Idea, Themselves

Poetry lies its way to the truth.
John Ciardi

Truth, Poetry, Lies

The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.
John Ciardi

Fool, American, Himself

A dollar saved is a quarter earned.
John Ciardi

Saved, Earned, Dollar

A neighborhood is a residential area that is changing for the worse.
John Ciardi

Worse, Changing, Area

Every game ever invented by mankind, is a way of making things hard for the fun of it!
John Ciardi

Fun, Game, Hard

Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.
John Ciardi

Money, After, Rich

Written by a sponge dipped in warm milk and sprinkled with sugar.
John Ciardi

Written, Warm, Milk

It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their convictions. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their confusions.
John Ciardi

Men, Courage, Sad

What has any poet to trust more than the feel of the thing? Theory concerns him only until he picks up his pen, and it begins to concern him again as soon as he lays it down.
John Ciardi

Trust, Him, Down

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Biography

Nationality: English

Type: Dramatist

Born: June 24, 1916

Died: March 30, 1986

Links

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Cite this Page: Citation

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