Emily Dickinson

“"Hope" is the thing with feathers — That perches in the soul.”

“God is sitting here, looking into my very soul to see if I think right thoughts. Yet I am not afraid, for I try to be right and good; and He knows every one of my struggles.”

“Friday I tasted life. It was a vast morsel. A circus passed the house — still I feel the red in my mind though the drums are out. [...] The lawn is full of south and the odors tangle, and I hear to-day for the first the river in the tree.”

“My friends are my "estate." Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them.”

“I had no portrait, now, but am small, like the Wren, and my Hair is bold, like the Chestnut Bur — and my eyes, like the Sherry in the Glass, that the Guest leaves — Would this do just as well?”

“If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever 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?”

“To live is so startling, it leaves but little room for other occupations.”

“We turn not older with years, but newer every day.”

“No approximate words in a poem.”

“A Grave – is a restricted Breadth –Yet ampler than the Sun –And all the Seas He populatesAnd lands he looks uponTo Him who on its small ReposeBestows a single Friend –Circumference without Relief –Or Estimate – or End –”

“A death-blow is a life-blow to some Who, till they died, did not alive become; Who, had they lived, had died, but when They died, vitality begun.”

“A little Madness in the SpringIs wholesome even for the King.”

“A solemn thing - it was - I said -A Woman - white - to be -And wear - if God should count me fit -Her blameless mystery -”

“After great pain, a formal feeling comes -The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs -The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,'And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before'?”

“This is the Hour of Lead -Remembered, if outlived,As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow -First - Chill - then Stupor - then the letting go -”

“Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility –”

“We passed the School, where Children stroveAt Recess – in the Ring –”

“Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity –”

“Bless God, he went as soldiers, His musket on his breast; Grant, God, he charge the bravest Of all the martial blest.Please God, might I behold him In epauletted white, I should not fear the foe then, I should not fear the fight.”

“Could Hope inspect her BasisHer Craft were done –Has a fictitious CharterOr it has none –Balked in the vastest instanceBut to renew –Felled but by one assassin –Prosperity –”

“Dreams – are well – but Waking's better, If One wake at Morn – If One wake at Midnight – better – Dreaming – of the Dawn –”

“Drowning is not so pitiful As the attempt to rise. Three times, 'tis said, a sinking man Comes up to face the skies, And then declines forever To that abhorred abodeWhere hope and he part company,— For he is grasped of God. The Maker’s cordial visage, However good to see, Is shunned, we must admit it, Like an adversity.”

“What fortitude the Soul contains,That it can so endureThe accent of a coming Foot -The opening of a Door -”

“"Faith" is a fine invention When Gentlemen can see – But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency.”

“Fame is a fickle food Upon a shifting plate, Whose table once a Guest, but not The second time, is set. Whose crumbs the crows inspect, And with ironic caw Flap past it to the Farmer’s corn; Men eat of it and die.”

“Fate slew him, but he did not drop; She felled—he did not fall— Impaled him on her fiercest stakes— He neutralized them all.She stung him, sapped his firm advance, But, when her worst was done, And he, unmoved, regarded her, Acknowledged him a man.”

“Heart, we will forget him! You and I, to-night! You may forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light.When you have done, pray tell me, That I my thoughts may dim; Haste! lest while you're lagging, I may remember him!”

“How happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone, And doesn't care about careers, And exigencies never fears; Whose coat of elemental brown A passing universe put on; And independent as the sun, Associates or glows alone, Fulfilling absolute decree In casual simplicity.”

“I died for Beauty – but was scarce Adjusted in the Tomb, When One who died for Truth, was lain In an adjoining Room – He questioned softly "Why I failed"? "For Beauty," I replied. "And I – for Truth, – Themself are One – We Brethren, are", He said –”

“I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –The Stillness in the RoomWas like the Stillness in the Air –Between the Heaves of Storm –”

“There interposed a Fly –With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –Between the light – and me –And then the Windows failed – and thenI could not see to see –”