He saw that it was an ironical thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such pains to avoid.

When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, and that she feels she would not maim the universe by disposing of him, he at first wishes to throw bricks...

When the suicide arrived at the sky, the people there asked him: “Why?” He replied: “Because no one admired me.

If I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed...

Nevertheless, he had, on a certain star-lit evening, said wonderingly and quite reverently: “Deh moon looks like hell, don’t it?

Tell her thisAnd more,—That the king of the seasWeeps too, old, helpless man.The bustling fatesHeap his hands with corpsesUntil he stands like a childWith surplus of toys.

It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible.

But I like itBecause it is bitter,And because it is my heart.

The ranks opened covertly to avoid the corpse. The invulnerable dead man forced a way for himself. The youth looked keenly at the ashen face. The wind raised the tawny beard. It moved as if...

The moon had been lighted and was hung in a treetop.

A man feared that he might find an assassin;Another that he might find a victim.One was more wise than the other.

Two or three angelsCame near to the earth.They saw a fat church.Little black streams of peopleCame and went in continually.And the angels were puzzledTo know why the people went thus,And why they stayed so long...

Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.

There was a man with tongue of woodWho essayed to sing,And in truth it was lamentable.But there was one who heardThe clip-clapper of this tongue of woodAnd knew what the manWished to sing,And with that...

It perhaps might be said–if any one dared–that the most worthless literature of the world has been that which has been written by the men of one nation concerning the men of another.

A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong in the ways of the universe, or even with...

And because it is my heart.

A learned man came to me once.He said, “I know the way, — come.”And I was overjoyed at this.Together we hastened.Soon, too soon, were weWhere my eyes were useless,And I knew not the ways of...

The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.

The maddened four men followed frantically, for it is better to be in the presence of the awful than only within hearing. (“The Black Dog”)

A serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree. This would demonstrate that he was indeed a seer.

When the prophet, a complacent fat man,Arrived at the mountain-topHe cried: “Woe to my knowledge!I intended to see good white landsAnd bad black lands—But the scene is grey.

It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.

It was wrong to do this,” said the angel.”You should live like a flower,Holding malice like a puppy,Waging war like a lambkin.””Not so,” quoth the manWho had no fear of spirits;”It is only wrong for...

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky And the affrighted steed ran on alone, Do not weep.War is kind.Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment, Little souls...

Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest of moments.