Inspirational Quotes by John Ciardi (American Poet)

Inspirational Quotations by John Ciardi (American Poet)

John Anthony Ciardi (1916–86) was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante’s Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children’s poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and directed the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont. In 1959, Ciardi published a book on how to read, write, and teach poetry, How Does a Poem Mean?, which has proven to be among the most-used books of its kind. At the peak of his popularity in the early 1960s, Ciardi also had a network television program on CBS, Accent. Ciardi’s impact on poetry is perhaps best measured through the younger poets whom he influenced as a teacher and as editor of the Saturday Review.

Source: Wikipedia (via CC-BY-SA license) • READ: Works by John Ciardi

A neighborhood is a residential area that is changing for the worse.
—John Ciardi
Topics: City Life, Cities

Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Art, Arts, Artists

Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Honesty

The eternal world is not merely a world beyond time and the grave. It embraces time; it is ready to realize itself under all the forms of temporal things. Its light and power are latent everywhere, waiting for human souls to welcome it, ready to break through the transparent veil of earthly things and to suffuse with its ineffable radiance the common life of man.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Eternity

You don’t have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Poetry, Suffering, Enthusiasm

Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Hope

Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Intelligence

There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Moderation

Love is the word used to label the sexual excitement of the young, the habituation of the middle-aged, and the mutual dependence of the old.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Love, Excitement

Aristocracy: What is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Class

Self-government is, indeed, the noblest rule on earth; the obj ect of a loftier ambition than the possession of crowns or sceptres. The truest conquest is where the soul is bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The monarch of his own mind is the only real potentate.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Self-Control

A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Change

The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.
—John Ciardi
Topics: America

A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Education, Colleges, Universities

Patience is the art of caring slowly.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Patience

Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.
—John Ciardi
Topics: Manners