Mary Oliver Quotes

Mary Oliver — American Poet born on September 10, 1935,

Mary Oliver is an American poet who has won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times described her as "far and away, this country's best-selling poet"... (wikipedia)

I love the line of Flaubert about observing things very intensely. I think our duty as writers begins not with our own feelings, but with the powers of observing.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

So this is how you swim inward. So this is how you flow outwards. So this is how you pray.

We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I stayed where I was happy.