Quotes from Dead Poets Society

N.H. Kleinbaum ·  166 pages

Rating: (39.8K votes)


“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“When you read, don't just consider what the author thinks, consider what you think”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“If you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - Carpe - hear it? – Carpe, Carpe Diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society



“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'Twas always thus, and always thus will be.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of passion.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society



“Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone. ”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“I close my eyes, and this image floats beside me.
A sweaty toothed mad man with a stare that pounds my brain.
His hands reach out and choke me, and all the time he's mumbling.
“Truth, truth.”
Like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold.
You push it, stretch it, but it'll never be enough.
You kick at it, beat it, it'll never cover any of us.
From the moment we enter crying,
to the moment we leave dying,
it'll just cover your face,
as you wail and cry and scream.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“But poetry, romance, love, beauty? These are what we stay alive for!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Carpe Diem,” Keating whispered loudly. “Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society



“And medecine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love: these are what we stay alive for.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“but only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'twas always thus and always thus will be.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn't that right, Todd? And that's your worse fear.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society



“I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity: the difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others. Now, those of you -- I see the look in your eyes like, "I would've walked differently." Well, ask yourselves why you were clapping. Now, we all have a great need for acceptance. But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, "That's baaaaad." Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“College will probably destroy your love for poetry. Hours of boring analysis, dissection, and criticism will see to that. College will also expose you to all manner of literature—much of it transcendent works of magic that you must devour; some of it utter dreck that you must avoid like the plague.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“TODD: Well, listen, Neil. I-I appreciate this concern, but I-I'm not like you.All right? You, you, you say things and people listen. I'm, I'm not like that.
NEIL: Don't you think you could be?
TODD: No! I--I, I don't know, but that's not the point. The, the, the point is that there's nothing you can do about it, so you can just butt out. I can take care of myself just fine. All right?
NEIL: No.
TODD: What do you mean, "no"?
NEIL: No.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Doğrular, her zaman insanın ayaklarını açıkta bırakan bir battaniye gibidir.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because, the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, ‘Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society



“La verdad es como una manta que nos deja los pies fríos. Ya puede uno tirar de ella hacia sí en todos los sentidos, que nunca nos cubrirá del todo. Sacudidla, tirad de ella, mas nunca será suficiente. Desde el día en que se viene al mundo, llorando, a aquel a quien se le entrega, agonizante, no puede hacer más que cubrirse con ella la cabeza y gemir, llorar o aullar.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Beni örten geceden,
Bir uçtan diğerine uzanan zifiri karanlıktan
Teşekkür ediyorum tanrı denene
Asla zaptedilemeyen ruhum için!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“How do we, like Walt, permit our own true natures to speak? How do we strip ourselves of prejudices, habits, influences? The answer, my dear lads, is that we must constantly endeavor to find a new point of view.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


“Kopar goncaları henüz vakit varken bugün
Anlamazsın zaman nasıl kanatlanır, uçar gider
O gonca sana gülücükler saçarken bugün
Gelince yarın, sararır solar, boynunu büker.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, quote from Dead Poets Society


About the author

N.H. Kleinbaum
Born place: in The United States
Born date August 30, 1948
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