A writer is unfair to himself when he is unable to be hard on himself.
Marianne Moore

Any writer overwhelmingly honest about pleasing himself is almost sure to please others.
Marianne Moore

As contagion of sickness makes sickness, contagion of trust can make trust.
Marianne Moore

Beauty is everlasting And dust is for a time.
Marianne Moore

I see no reason for calling my work poetry except that there is no other category in which to put it.
Marianne Moore

If technique is of no interest to a writer, I doubt that the writer is an artist.
Marianne Moore

If you will tell me why the fen appears impassable, I then will tell you why I think that I can cross it if I try.
Marianne Moore

Impatience is the mark of independence, not of bondage.
Marianne Moore

In a poem the excitement has to maintain itself. I am governed by the pull of the sentence as the pull of a fabric is governed by gravity.
Marianne Moore

It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.
Marianne Moore


It is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment without having a critic, forever, like the old man of the sea, upon his back.
Marianne Moore

My father used to say superior people never make long visits.
Marianne Moore

Poetry is all nouns and verbs.
Marianne Moore

Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.
Marianne Moore

Psychology which explains everything explains nothing, and we are still in doubt.
Marianne Moore

Superior people never make long visits.
Marianne Moore

The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence; not in silence, but restraint.
Marianne Moore

The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease.
Marianne Moore

There never was a war that was not inward.
Marianne Moore

We are suffering from too much sarcasm.
Marianne Moore