Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Mary Oliver (American Poet)

Mary Jane Oliver (1935–2019) was an American poet whose work reflected a deep communion with the natural world. Her poems celebrate nature and explore the mysteries of life, death, and regeneration.

Born in Cleveland, Oliver was educated at Ohio State and Vassar. She never graduated and later mocked much of her education as “a pre-established collection of certainties.”

Oliver’s verse, often compared to that of Theodore Roethke, James Wright, and Emily Dickinson, is subtly formal and reflected her reverence of animal life and the natural world. Her volumes of poetry began with No Voyage and Other Poems (1963; expanded 1965,) and include American Primitive (1983; Pulitzer,) and New and Selected Poems (1992; National Book Award.) The latter became one of the best-selling volumes of poetry in America.

Later volumes of poetry include White Pine (1994,) West Wind (1997,) and Why I Wake Early (2004.) Winter Hours (1999,) and Owls and Other Fantasies (2003) collect both prose and poetry. In addition to her writing, Oliver also taught at several colleges, notably Case Western Reserve University and Bennington College.

Oliver also wrote the poetry handbooks, A Poetry Handbook (1994) and Rules for the Dance (1999,) and the prose collection Long Life: Essays and Other Writings (2004.) Her final anthology of poems, Devotions, was published in 2017.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Mary Oliver

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.
Mary Oliver
Topics: One liners, Attention

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
Calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
Over and over announcing your place
In the family of things.
Mary Oliver
Topics: Living, Wilderness

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

The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.
Mary Oliver

What can we do but keep on breathing in and out, modest and willing, and in our places?
Mary Oliver

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