Quotes by William Butler Yeats

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

— William Butler Yeats

Education

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.

— William Butler Yeats

Friendship

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

— William Butler Yeats

Hope

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

— William Butler Yeats

Hope

Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!

— William Butler Yeats

Life

Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That's all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die.

— William Butler Yeats

Love

Think where man's glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.

— William Butler Yeats

Friendship

People who lean on logic and philosophy and rational exposition end by starving the best part of the mind.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.

— William Butler Yeats

Love

Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

— William Butler Yeats

Life

Talent perceives differences; genius, unity.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read, and dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep.

— William Butler Yeats

Hope

The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth, We are happy when we are growing.

— William Butler Yeats

Happiness

The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

If suffering brings wisdom, I would wish to be less wise.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all like an opera.

— William Butler Yeats

Hope

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.'

— William Butler Yeats

Wisdom

We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us.

— William Butler Yeats

Happiness

Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.

— William Butler Yeats

Happiness

Take, if you must, this little bag of dreams, Unloose the cord, and they will wrap you round.

— William Butler Yeats

Hope

You that would judge me, do not judge alone this book or that, come to this hallowed place where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon; Ireland's history in their lineaments trace; think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was I had such friends.

— William Butler Yeats

Friendship