Best 20 quotes of James Stephens on MyQuotes

A woman is a branchy tree and man a singing wind; and from her branches carelessly he takes what he can find.

Because our lives are cowardly and sly, Because we do not dare to take or give, Because we scowl and pass each other by, We do not live; we do not dare to live.

Can a spear divine the Eternal Will?

Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect. There are lumps in it.

I came to the resolve that the attempt was not only worth trying, but should be tried in the very near future if we wanted at all to keep our flag flying; for I was sure as of my own existence that if another decade was allowed to pass without an endeavour of some kind or another to shake off an unjust yoke, the Irish people would sink into lethargy from which it would be impossible for any patriot . . . to arouse them . . .

I hear a sudden cry of pain! There is a rabbit in a snare.

Is it not possible that the ultimate end is gaiety and music and a dance of joy?

I would think Until I found Something I can never find; - Something Lying On the ground, In the bottom Of my mind.

Men come of age at sixty, women at fifteen.

My three-thousand mile walk through Ireland convinced me of one thing - the possibility of organising a proper movement for the independence of my native land.

Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself.

Tell me your past, my beloved, for a man is his past, and is to be known by it.

The duty of a lyrical poet is not to express or explain, it is to intensify life.

We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.

What the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow.

Women and birds are able to see without turning their heads, and that is indeed a necessary provision for they are both surrounded by enemies.

Be at peace all of you, for hunger has a whip, and he will drive the strange away in the night.

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

Curiosity will conquer fear more than bravery will.

He saw a square room furnished as a library. The entire section of the walls which he could spy was covered from floor to ceiling with books. There were volumes of every size, every shape, every colour. There were long, narrow books that held themselves like grenadiers at stiff attention. There were short, fat books that stood solidly like aldermen who were going to make speeches and were ashamed but not frightened. There were mediocre books bearing themselves with the carelessness of folk who are never looked at and have consequently no shyness. There were solemn books that seemed to be feeling for their spectacles; and there were tattered, important books that had got dirty because they took snuff, and were tattered because they had been crossed in love and had never married afterwards. There were prim, ancient tomes that were certainly ashamed of their heroines and utterly unable to obtain a divorce from the hussies; and there were lean, rakish volumes that leaned carelessly, or perhaps it was with studied elegance, against their neighbours, murmuring in affected tones, "All heroines are charming to us.