Inspirational Quotes by Philip Larkin (English Poet)

Philip Arthur Larkin (1922–85) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. He is considered one of the most important poets of the 20th century. He most represents the poets who expressed a clipped, anti-romantic sensibility prevalent in English verse in the 1950s.

Born in Coventry, Warwickshire, Larkin was educated at St John’s College-Oxford, on a scholarship. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published at his own expense in 1945, and his first novels were Jill (1946; 1964) and A Girl in Winter (1947.)

Larkin’s poetry was known for its clarity, wit, and ability to capture the mundane aspects of everyday life. He became well-known with the publication of his volume of verse, The Less Deceived (1955.) The collection’s themes include love, loss, disillusionment, and the passing of time, and Larkin’s unadorned yet understated style is often used to convey a sense of emotional detachment or resignation.

Larkin served as librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull, Yorkshire, 1955–85. He was also the jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph (1961–71,) compiling his essays in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–68 (1970.) The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974) are his later volumes of poetry, and he edited the Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse (1973.) A volume of essays, Required Writing, was published in 1983.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Philip Larkin

Life has a practice of living you, if you don’t live it.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Life and Living

I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any—after all, most people are unhappy, don’t you think?
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Unhappiness

Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, and don’t have any kids yourself.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Money, Misery

Sexual intercourse began in 1963 (which was rather late for me)—Between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles first LP.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Sex

Since the majority of me
Rejects the majority of you,
Debating ends forthwith, and we
Divide.
—Philip Larkin

The only way to eliminate unemployment is to eliminate unemployment benefits.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Work

For we have thought the longer thoughts
And gone the shorter way.
And we have danced to devil’s tunes
Shivering home to pray;
I take you now and for always,
For always is always now.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Commitment

Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms inside your head, and people in them, acting. People you know, yet can’t quite name.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Aging, Age

Above all, though, children are linked to adults by the simple fact that they are in process of turning into them. For this they may be forgiven much. Children are bound to be inferior to adults, or there is no incentive to grow up.
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Children

My mother, who hates thunderstorms,
Holds up each summer day and shakes
It out suspiciously, lest swarms
Of grape-dark clouds are lurking there….
—Philip Larkin

Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork and drive the brute off?
—Philip Larkin
Topics: Work

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Inspirational Quotes by Philip Larkin (English Poet)

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