Link Copied!
Edna St. Vincent Millay Quotes (1892-1950)
Poet, Playwright
About Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She was also known for her unconventional, bohemian lifestyle and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work.
Best Edna St. Vincent Millay Quotes
Shortest
Earliest
Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes.
βAfter all, my earstwhile dear,
My no longer cherished,
Need we say it was not love,
Now that love is perished?β
My no longer cherished,
Need we say it was not love,
Now that love is perished?β
βIt's little I know what's in my heart,
What's in my mind it's little I know,
But there's that in me must up and start,
And it's little I care where my feet go.β
What's in my mind it's little I know,
But there's that in me must up and start,
And it's little I care where my feet go.β
βThe only people I really hate are servants. They are not really human beings at all. As attributed without citation in At Home by Bill Bryson, Chapter V, "The Scullery and the Larder" p. 111β
βChildhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is.β
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is.β
βEuclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere.β
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere.β
βBut you are mobile as the veering air,
And all your charms more changeful than the tide,
Wherefore to be inconstant is no care:
I have but to continue at your side.
So wanton, light and false, my love, are you,
I am most faithless when I most am true.β
And all your charms more changeful than the tide,
Wherefore to be inconstant is no care:
I have but to continue at your side.
So wanton, light and false, my love, are you,
I am most faithless when I most am true.β
βLove is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.β
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.β
βThe world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, β
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.'''
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat β the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.β
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, β
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.'''
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat β the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.β
βBut, sure, the sky is big, I said;
Miles and miles above my head;
So here upon my back I'll lie
And look my fill into the sky.
And so I looked, and, after all,
The sky was not so very tall.
The sky, I said, must somewhere stop,
And β sure enough! β I see the top!
The sky, I thought, is not so grand;
I 'most could touch it with my hand!
And reaching up my hand to try,
I screamed to feel it touch the sky.β
Miles and miles above my head;
So here upon my back I'll lie
And look my fill into the sky.
And so I looked, and, after all,
The sky was not so very tall.
The sky, I said, must somewhere stop,
And β sure enough! β I see the top!
The sky, I thought, is not so grand;
I 'most could touch it with my hand!
And reaching up my hand to try,
I screamed to feel it touch the sky.β
Edna St. Vincent Millay Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Edna St. Vincent Millay quotes by topic.
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Faith
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Damnation
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Night
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Poetry
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Candles
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Adult
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Fact
βUpon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill...β
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Lifelong learning
βUpon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined.
Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun, but there exists no loom
To weave it into fabric.β
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Love
βLove is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.β
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Poetry about love
βLove is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.β
What Edna St. Vincent Millay Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Edna St. Vincent Millay shared regarding contemporaries.
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Euclid
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Elinor Wylie
βIt is not in the power of an organization which has insulted Elinor Wylie, to honour me.β
Edna St. Vincent Millay on Roald Dahl
Quotes About Edna St. Vincent Millay
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Edna St. Vincent Millay from others.
Alicia Ostriker on Edna St. Vincent Millay
βWhen I was a freshman at Brandeis, an instructor told us that we should not like Edna St. Vincent Millay. He didnβt say it in so many words, but the message was that we shouldnβt like her because she slept around. No women got into the modernist boysβ club except Marianne Moore, who was respected because she was respectable. Sexually respectable. This sounds oversimplified, but it isnβt. All the other women poets had sex lives β kinky sex lives.β
About Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She was also known for her unconventional, bohemian lifestyle and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work.