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7 James Stephens Quotes

James Stephens shares a reflective voice on life, courage and change that feels a bit grand and invites quiet contemplation.

James Stephens quotes

  1. Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

    #1

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

    #2

  3. 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.

    #3

  4. If I asked her master he'd give me a cask a day; But she, with the beer at hand, not a gill would arrange! May she marry a ghost and bear him a kitten, and may The High King of Glory permit her to get the mange.

    #4

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

    #5

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

    #6

  7. Speech and prose are not the same thing. They have different wave-lengths, for speech moves at the speed of light, where prose moves at the speed of the alphabet, and must be consecutive and grammatical and word-perfect. Prose cannot gesticulate. Speech can sometimes do nothing else.

    #7