~ John Ciardi Quotes ~

[MysteRy]

John Ciardi Quotes


An American poet, translator, and etymologist.
John Anthony Ciardi (CHAR-dee) (June 24, 1916 - March 30, 1986) 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.

Here are some famous quotes by John Ciardi.   

There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.

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You have to fall in love with hanging around words.

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Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.

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You don't have to suffer to be a poet; adolescence is enough suffering for anyone.

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A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.

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Boys are the cash of war. Whoever said: we're not free spenders- doesn't know our like.

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A savage is simply a human organism that has not received enough news from the human race.

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Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves they have a better idea.

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Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.

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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.

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It is easy enough to praise men for the courage of their convictions. I wish I could teach the sad young of this mealy generation the courage of their confusions.

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If a man means his writing seriously he must mean to write well. But how can he write well until he learns to see what he has written badly. His progress toward good writing and his recognition of bad writing are bound to unfold at something like the same rate.

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(Conviction) is possible only in a world more primitive than ours can be perceived to be. A man can achieve a simply gnomic conviction only by ignoring the radical describers of his environment or by hating them as convinced men have hated say Darwin and Freud as agents of some devil.