Selected Quotes by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson- Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. She is little-known during her life but has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, into a prominent family with strong ties to its community. After studying at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's home in Amherst.
Evidence suggests that she lived much of her life in isolation. She was considered an eccentric by locals. She developed a penchant for white clothing. She is also known for her reluctance to greet guests or even later in life, to leave her bedroom. She never married, and most of her friendships with others depended entirely upon correspondence.
Quotes by Emily Dickinson:
Quotes from Emily Dickinson's Poems:
"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality."
Poem – Unable are the loved to die
Emily Dickinson, Love
"There’s been a death in the opposite house
As laterly as today,
I know it by the numb look
Such houses have always"
Poem – There’s been a death in the opposite house
Emily Dickinson, Death
"Heaven is what I cannot reach!
The apple on the tree
Provided it do hopeless hang
That “heaven” is to me"
Poem – Heaven is what I cannot reach
Emily Dickinson, Belief
"A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day."
Poem – A word is dead
Emily Dickinson, Life
"My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me"
Poem – My life closed twice before its close
Emily Dickinson, Belief
"That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet."
Poem – That it will never come again
Emily Dickinson, Life
"A Bird, came down the Walk –
He did not know I saw –
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw"
Poem – A Bird, came down the walk
Emily Dickinson, Nature
"Some keep the Sabbath going to church;
I keep it staying at home,
With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome."
Poem – Some keep the sabbath going to church
Emily Dickinson, Belief
"It might be lonelier
Without the loneliness"
Poem – It might be lonelier
Emily Dickinson, Life
"Not with a club, the Heart is broken
Nor with a Stone –
A Whip so small you could not see it
I’ve known"
Poem – Not with a club, the heart is broken
Emily Dickinson, Love
"Wild nights – Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!"
Poem – Wild nights
Emily Dickinson, Happiness
"I measure every grief I meet
With narrow, probing, eyes –
I wonder if it weighs like mine –
Or has an Easier size."
Poem – I measure every grief I meet
Emily Dickinson, Happiness
"Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true"
Poem – Earth is a merry damsel
Emily Dickinson, Nature
"Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate"
Poem – Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate
Emily Dickinson, Success
"Tis harder knowing it is due,
Than knowing it is here."
Poem – While I was fearing it it came
Emily Dickinson, Life
"The moon was but a chin of gold
A night or two ago,
And now she turns her perfect face
Upon the world below."
Poem – The moon was but a chin of gold
Emily Dickinson, Nature
"Earth is crammed with Heaven."
Poem – Earth is crammed with heaven
Emily Dickinson, Belief
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all"
Poem – Hope is the thing with feathers
Emily Dickinson, Hope
"The brain is wider than the sky"
Poem – The brain is wider than the sky
Emily Dickinson, Intelligence/Wisdom
"Forever is composed of nows."
Poem – Forever is composed of nows
Emily Dickinson, Life
"Not knowing when the dawn will come
I open every door."
Poem – Not knowing when the dawn will come
Emily Dickinson, Goals
"I started early, took my dog,
And visited the sea;
The mermaids in the basement
Came out to look at me"
Poem – I started early, took my dog
Emily Dickinson, Nature
"Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed"
Poem – Success is counted sweetest
Emily Dickinson, Success, Happiness
"A wounded deer leaps the highest."
Poem – A wounded deer leaps the highest
Emily Dickinson, Nature
"Tell the truth but tell it slant"
Poem – Tell the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson, Truth
"My friends are my estate
I argue thee that love is life and life hath immortality"
Poem – That I did always love
Emily Dickinson, Friendship, Wealth, Love, Life
"He ate and drank the precious words;
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor
Nor that his frame was dust."
Poem – He ate and drank the precious words
Emily Dickinson, Intelligence/Wisdom, Wealth
"I’m nobody, who are you?"
Poem – I’m nobody, who are you?
Emily Dickinson, Life
"Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell."
Poem – My life closed twice before it closed
Emily Dickinson, Belief
"I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name."
Poem – I do not like the man who squanders life for fame
Emily Dickinson, Success, Work
"Luck is not chance, it’s toil fortune’s expensive smile is earned."
Poem – Luck is not chance
Emily Dickinson, Success, Life
"After great pain, a formal feeling comes,
The nerves sit ceremonious, like tombs"
Poem – After great pain, a formal feeling comes
Emily Dickinson, Life
"Because I could not stop for death
He kindly stopped for me
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality"
Poem – Because I could not stop for death
Emily Dickinson, Death
Quotes from Emily Dickinson's Letters:
"Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it."
Letter to Thomas Higginson
Emily Dickinson, Truth
"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."
Letter to Thomas Higginson
Emily Dickinson, Life
"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?"
Letter to Thomas Higginson
Emily Dickinson, Art
"Dying is a wild night and a new road."
Letter to Perez Cowan
Emily Dickinson, Death
"It is better to be the hammer than the anvil"
Letter to a friend
Emily Dickinson, Life
"A word is dead when it’s been said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day. But a book is only the heart’s portrait — every page a pulse."
Letter to Elizabeth Holland
Emily Dickinson, Art
"Morning without you is a dwindled dawn."
Letter to Elizabeth Holland