Mary Oliver Quotes

A collection of quotes by Mary Oliver.

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was a highly acclaimed American poet renowned for her contemplative and close observation of nature. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, her childhood experiences and rural surroundings shaped her poetic sensibilities. Her works, including "American Primitive" and "Devotions," won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Oliver's evocative writing style, often exploring themes of mysticism and spirituality, resonated with a wide audience, making her one of the most beloved and influential poets of her generation. N/A

I'm going to die one day. I know it's coming for me, too. I'

I'm going to die one day. I know it's coming for me, too. I'll be a mountain, I'll be a stone on the beach. I'll be nourishment.

Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if

Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they're thirsty. That's prayer. They don't live an unconscious life, they simply have no language to talk about these things. But they are grateful for the good things that come along.

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and pr

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

Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is

Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born.

Tell me, what is it you plan to dowith your one wild and pre

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

You want to cry aloud for your mistakes. But to tell the tru

You want to cry aloud for your mistakes. But to tell the truth the world doesn't need any more of that sound.

Truth Mistakes Sound

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

Love Darkness Gift Box

On the beach, at dawn:Four small stones clearlyHugging each

On the beach, at dawn:Four small stones clearlyHugging each other.How many kinds of loveMight there be in the world,And how many formations might they makeAnd who am I everTo imagine I could knowSuch a marvelous business?When the sun brokeIt poured willingly its lightOver the stonesThat did not move, not at all,Just as, to its always generous term,It shed its light on me,My own body that loves, Equally, to hug another body.

Poetry Nature Love Light

I very much wished not to be noticed, and to be left alone,

I very much wished not to be noticed, and to be left alone, and I sort of succeeded.

It is better for the heart to break, than not to break.

It is better for the heart to break, than not to break.

I love the line of Flaubert about observing things very inte

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.

Power Love Duty

I simply do not distinguish between work and play.

I simply do not distinguish between work and play.

When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride mar

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.

We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger

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. I spent a great deal of time in my younger years just writing and reading, walking around the woods in Ohio, where I grew up.

Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty

Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket you put your life into it and make something out of that.

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things:

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.

It's very important to write things down instantly, or you c

It's very important to write things down instantly, or you can lose the way you were thinking out a line. I have a rule that if I wake up at 3 in the morning and think of something, I write it down. I can't wait until morning - it'll be gone.