Quotes by Poets

The collection's poets, from Rumi and Tagore to the moderns. This page lists all 138 of them with their quote counts, followed by a selection of their most-shared lines.

Rumi (51) Poet and mystic · 1207–1273
William Shakespeare (51) Playwright and poet · 1564–1616
Kahlil Gibran (48) Writer and poet · 1883–1931
Rabindranath Tagore (44) Poet · 1861–1941
Maya Angelou (28) Poet, memoirist · 1928–2014
Emily Dickinson (7) Poet · 1830–1886
Ovid (7) Poet · 43 BC–17
Alfred Tennyson (6) Poet · 1809–1892
William Wordsworth (5) Romantic poet and Poet Laureate · 1770–1850
Matsuo Bashō (4) Poet · 1644–1694
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (4) Poet · 1911–1984
John Keats (4) Poet · 1795–1821
Robert Frost (4) Poet · 1874–1963
Walt Whitman (4) Poet · 1819–1892
Virgil (4) Poet · 70 BC–19 BC
Henri-Frederic Amiel (4) Philosopher and poet · 1821–1881
Rudyard Kipling (4) Poet, novelist and Nobel laureate · 1865–1936
Christina Rossetti (4) Poet · 1830–1894
Sylvia Plath (4) Poet and novelist · 1932–1963
Hafiz (4) Persian poet · 1315–1390
Allama Iqbal (4) Poet and philosopher · 1877–1938
Jaun Elia (4) Urdu poet · 1931–2002
Mir Taqi Mir (4) Urdu poet · 1723–1810
Harivansh Rai Bachchan (4) Hindi poet · 1907–2003
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (4) Hindi poet · 1904–1948
Javed Akhtar (4) Poet, lyricist and screenwriter · born 1945
Gulzar (4) Poet, lyricist and filmmaker · born 1934
Kazi Nazrul Islam (4) Bengali poet · 1899–1976
Li Bai (3) Poet · 701–762
Kobayashi Issa (3) Poet · 1763–1828
Saadi Shirazi (3) Poet · 1210–1291
Kabir (3) Mystic poet · 1440–1518
Pablo Neruda (3) Poet and diplomat · 1904–1973
Omar Khayyam (3) Mathematician and poet · 1048–1131
Elizabeth Browning (3) English poet · 1806–1861
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (3) Physician and poet · 1809–1894
Hermann Hesse (3) Novelist and poet · 1877–1962
Mahadevi Varma (3) Hindi poet · 1907–1987
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (3) Hindi poet · 1908–1974
Michael Madhusudan Dutt (3) Bengali poet and playwright · 1824–1873
Langston Hughes (2) Poet · 1901–1967
Lord Byron (2) Poet · 1788–1824
Mahmoud Darwish (2) Poet · 1941–2008
Dante Alighieri (2) Poet · 1265–1321
Kenji Miyazawa (2) Poet and writer · 1896–1933
Derek Walcott (2) Saint Lucian poet and playwright · 1930–2017
Su Shi (2) Poet and statesman · 1037–1101
Nazim Hikmet (2) Poet · 1902–1963
Muhammad Iqbal (2) Poet and philosopher · 1877–1938
Ibn Arabi (2) Sufi philosopher and poet · 1165–1240
Ben Okri (2) Nigerian poet and novelist · born 1959
Gabriela Mistral (2) Poet and educator · 1889–1957
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2) Nun, poet and scholar · 1648–1695
Jorge Luis Borges (2) Writer and poet · 1899–1986
Hafez (2) Lyric poet · 1315–1390
Matsuo Basho (2) Poet · 1644–1694
Thiruvalluvar (2) Tamil poet-saint
Horace (2) Poet · 65 BC–8 BC
Audre Lorde (2) Poet and essayist · 1934–1992
Mirza Ghalib (2) Urdu and Persian poet · 1797–1869
John Dryden (2) Poet and playwright · 1631–1700
Friedrich von Schiller (2) German poet and playwright · 1759–1805
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (2) Poet · 1807–1882
William Blake (2) English poet and artist · 1757–1827
Alexander Pope (2) Poet · 1688–1744
Percy Shelley (2) Poet · 1792–1822
Antonio Machado (1) Poet · 1875–1939
Heinrich Heine (1) Poet · 1797–1856
Mario Benedetti (1) Poet and novelist · 1920–2009
Sapardi Djoko Damono (1) Poet · 1940–2020
Margaret Atwood (1) Novelist and poet · born 1939
Tao Yuanming (1) Poet · 365–427
Bulleh Shah (1) Sufi poet · 1680–1757
Yunus Emre (1) Folk poet · 1240–1320
Ryunosuke Satoro (1) Poet
Federico García Lorca (1) Poet and playwright · 1898–1936
Forough Farrokhzad (1) Poet · 1934–1967
Akka Mahadevi (1) Poet-saint · 1130–1160
Ryokan (1) Zen monk and poet · 1758–1831
N. Scott Momaday (1) Kiowa novelist and poet · 1934–2024
Wen Tianxiang (1) Poet and statesman · 1236–1283
Aimé Césaire (1) Martinican poet and statesman · 1913–2008
Rainer Maria Rilke (1) Poet · 1875–1926
Joy Harjo (1) Muscogee poet and musician · born 1951
Kamau Brathwaite (1) Barbadian poet and historian · 1930–2020
Bai Juyi (1) Poet · 772–846
Dylan Thomas (1) Poet · 1914–1953
Leonard Cohen (1) Singer-songwriter and poet · 1934–2016
Du Fu (1) Poet · 712–770
Nguyen Du (1) Poet · 1765–1820
W. B. Yeats (1) Poet · 1865–1939
Chiyo-ni (1) Poet · 1703–1775
José Martí (1) Poet and independence leader · 1853–1895
Octavio Paz (1) Poet and diplomat · 1914–1998
Wang Wei (1) Poet · 699–759
Yun Dong-ju (1) Poet · 1917–1945
Birago Diop (1) Senegalese poet and storyteller · 1906–1989
Chairil Anwar (1) Poet · 1922–1949
Emily Brontë (1) Novelist and poet · 1818–1848
John Donne (1) Poet and cleric · 1572–1631
Robert Browning (1) Poet · 1812–1889
Santoka Taneda (1) Poet · 1882–1940
Amir Khusrau (1) Poet and musician · 1253–1325
Carl Sandburg (1) Poet & Biographer · 1878–1967
Margaret Sangster (1) Poet, author and editor · 1838–1912
James Russell Lowell (1) Poet and critic · 1819–1891
Lord Herbert (1) Philosopher and poet · 1583–1648
Luisa Sigea (1) Humanist scholar and poet · 1522–1560
Jean de la Fontaine (1) Poet and fabulist · 1621–1695
Haynes Bayly (1) Poet and songwriter · 1797–1839
William Yeats (1) Irish poet and dramatist · 1865–1939
Thomas Hardy (1) English novelist and poet · 1840–1928
Kathleen Norris (1) Poet and essayist · born 1947
Anne Bronte (1) Novelist & Poet · 1820–1849
Robert Graves (1) Poet and novelist · 1895–1985
Harry Kemp (1) Poet · 1883–1960
T. S. Eliot (1) Poet and playwright · 1888–1965
John Petit-Senn (1) Poet and writer · 1792–1870
W. H. Auden (1) Anglo-American poet · 1907–1973
James Oppenheim (1) Poet and novelist · 1882–1932
Alice Walker (1) Novelist & Poet · born 1944
Edward Young (1) English poet · 1683–1765
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1) Poet and critic · 1772–1834
Muriel Rukeyser (1) Poet and political activist · 1913–1980
Henry Reed (1) Poet · 1914–1986
E. E. Cummings (1) American poet · 1894–1962
Edwin Markham (1) American poet · 1852–1940
Robert Southey (1) Poet · 1774–1843
Edna Millay (1) American poet · 1892–1950
Linda Hogan (1) Poet and novelist · born 1947
May Sarton (1) Poet, novelist and memoirist · 1912–1995
Hannah Senesh (1) Poet and paratrooper · 1921–1944
Edgar Allan Poe (1) American writer and poet · 1809–1849
Philip Sidney (1) Poet and courtier · 1554–1586
Anne Bradstreet (1) Poet · 1612–1672
Ella Wilcox (1) American poet · 1850–1919
Homer (1) Ancient Greek poet · born c. 8th century BCE
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1) English Romantic poet · 1792–1822

Quotes by Poets

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. — Rumi
The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Rumi
Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder. — Rumi
Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
Rumi
Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form. — Rumi
Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.
Rumi
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. — Rumi
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
Rumi
Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation. — Rumi
Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.
Rumi
What you seek is seeking you. — Rumi
What you seek is seeking you.
Rumi
Love is the bridge between you and everything. — Rumi
Love is the bridge between you and everything.
Rumi
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along. — Rumi
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.
Rumi
Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. — Rumi
Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.
Rumi
Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. — Rumi
Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.
Rumi
Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth. — Rumi
Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.
Rumi
Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure. — Rumi
Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.
Rumi
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