Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Edna St. Vincent Millay (American Poet)

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was an American poet, playwright, and feminist who embodied romantic rebellion and audacity in the 1920s. She is renowned for her melodic verse, vivid imagery, and fearless exploration of love, sexuality, and social justice.

Hailing from Rockland, Maine, Millay displayed exceptional poetic talent from a young age. At age 20, her poetic prowess earned her a scholarship to Vassar College. Her literary skills blossomed there, swiftly gaining recognition for her unconventional and passionate writing style. Millay’s poetry captured the very essence of the Jazz Age, seamlessly blending romanticism with modernist influences.

Millay’s first collection, Renascence and Other Poems (1920,) received critical acclaim. She quickly became a darling of the literary world, captivating readers with her sharp intellect and sensual language. Her subsequent works, including A Few Figs from Thistles (1920) and The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923,) solidified her position as a leading voice in American literature.

Infused with her strong feminist beliefs and a yearning for personal and artistic freedom, Millay’s writing challenged societal norms and championed women’s rights. She utilized her poetry as a platform for social commentary. Millay also ventured into playwriting, achieving considerable success with her play Aria da Capo (1921.)

Millay received numerous accolades throughout her career, notably becoming the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923. As the years passed, Millay’s early work’s boldness and stylish cynicism transformed into more personal and mature writing. Particularly in her sonnets and other short poems, she produced a substantial body of intensely lyrical verse, including The Buck in the Snow (1928,) Fatal Interview (1931,) and Wine from These Grapes (1934.) A final collection of her poetry, Mine the Harvest (1954,) was published posthumously.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies. Nobody that matters, that is.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Youth, Childhood

I make beanstalks; I’m a builder, like yourself.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Dreams

My heart is warm with the friend I make,
And better friends I’ll not be knowing;
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
No matter where it’s going.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Travel

A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public with his pants down.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Reading, Books

Under my head till morning; but the rain is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh upon the glass and listen for reply….
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Weather

Love me, please; I love you; I can bear to be your friend. So ask of me anything … I am not a tentative person. Whatever I do I give up my whole self to it.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Commitment, Dedication, Friendship

Not Truth, but Faith, it is
That keeps the world alive.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Faith

Parrots, tortoises and redwoods live a longer life than men do; Men a longer life than dogs do; Dogs a longer life than love does.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Love

God, I can push the grass apart and lay my finger on Thy heart.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: God

If I love you Wednesday, What is that to you? I do not love you Thursday—so much is true.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Love

April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Seasons, Gardening

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Absence

When we are old and these rejoicing veins
Are frosty channels to a muted stream,
And out of all our burning there remains
No feeblest spark to fire us, even in dream,
This be our solace: that it was not said
When we were young and warm and in our prime,
Upon our couch we lay as lie the dead,
Sleeping away the unreturning time.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Age

I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Summer, Seasons

It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another; it’s one damn thing over and over.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Life and Living

No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,
Watches beside me in this windy place.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Weather

Life is a quest and love a quarrel …
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Love

Set the foot down with distrust on the crust of the world—it is thin.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Caution

My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –
It gives a lovely light.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Excess

I drank at every vine.
The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine
So wonderful as thirst.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay
Topics: Alcohol, Wine

I have loved badly, loved the great
Too soon, withdrawn my words too late;
And eaten in an echoing hall
Alone and from a chipped plate
The words that I withdrew too late.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay

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