James Stephens (author)

“List of books by Stephens, James, {1882-1950) at Project Gutenberg.”

“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.”

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

“I would thinkUntil I foundSomethingI can never find;– SomethingLyingOn the ground,In the bottomOf my mind.”

“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 mayThe High King of Glory permit her to get the mange.”

“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.”

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

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.”