Carl Sandburg

About Carl Sandburg

“There are some people who can receive a truth by no other way than to have their understanding shocked and insulted.”
— In Reckless Ecstasy (1904)
“I want the respect of intelligent men but I will choose for myself the intelligent. I love art but I decide for myself what is art. I adore beauty but only my own soul shall tell me what is beauty. I worship God but I define and describe God for myself. I am an individual. The pleasure of my own heart shall be first to inform me when I have done good work.”
— "Egoism" as quoted by Amy Lowell, "Edgar Lee Masters and Carl Sandburg," Tendencies in Modern American Poetry (1917)
“Tell me if the lovers are losers... tell me if any get more than the lovers.”
— "Cool Tombs" (1918)
“Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment.”
— "Tentative (First Model)" Definitions of Poetry" in Complete Poems (1950)
“Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you.”
— Declaration at his 85th birthday party (6 January 1963), as quoted in The Best of Ralph McGill : Selected Columns (1980) by Ralph McGill, edited by Michael Strickland, Harry Davis, and Jeff Strickland, p. 82
“I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it.”
— As quoted in A Dictionary of Literary Quotations‎ (1990) by Meic Stephens

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.