Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain.
John Masefield

Commonplace people dislike tragedy because they dare not suffer and cannot exult.
John Masefield

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
John Masefield

In this life he laughs longest who laughs last.
John Masefield

It is too maddening. I've got to fly off, right now, to some devilish navy yard, three hours in a seasick steamer, and after being heartily sick, I'll have to speak three times, and then I'll be sick coming home. Still, who would not be sick for England?
John Masefield

It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries.
John Masefield

Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once in a minute something generous dies for want of it.
John Masefield

Poetry is a mixture of common sense, which not all have, with an uncommon sense, which very few have.
John Masefield

Since the printing press came into being, poetry has ceased to be the delight of the whole community of man; it has become the amusement and delight of the few.
John Masefield

The luck will alter and the star will rise.
John Masefield


There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see.
John Masefield