Quotes from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“We never know how high we are till we are called to rise. Then if we are true to form our statures touch the skies.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“The sun just touched the morning;
The morning, happy thing,
Supposed that he had come to dwell,
And life would be all spring.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Those who have not found the heaven below,
will fail of it above.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“They say that “time assuages,”—
Time never did assuage;
An actual suffering strengthens,
As sinews do, with age.
Time is a test of trouble,
But not a remedy.
If such it prove, it prove too
There was no malady.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“The Poets light but Lamps-
Themselves-go out-”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky—”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Forever – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Come slowly, Eden!
Lips unused to thee,
Bashful, sip thy jasmines,
As the fainting bee,

Reaching late his flower,
Round her chamber hums,
Counts his nectars—enters,
And is lost in balms!”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“I had a daily bliss
I half indifferent viewed,
Till sudden I perceived it stir,—
It grew as I pursued,

Till when, around a crag,
It wasted from my sight,
Enlarged beyond my utmost scope,
I learned its sweetness right.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“A little road not made of man,
Enabled of the eye,
Accessible to thill of bee,
Or cart of butterfly.

If town it have, beyond itself,
’T is that I cannot say;
I only sigh,—no vehicle
Bears me along that way.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Down Time’s quaint stream
Without an oar,
We are enforced to sail,
Our Port—a secret—
Our Perchance—a gale.
What Skipper would
Incur the risk,
What Buccaneer would ride,
Without a surety from the wind
Or schedule of the tide?”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“The brain within its groove
Runs evenly and true;
But let a splinter swerve,
’T were easier for you
To put the water back
When floods have slit the hills,
And scooped a turnpike for themselves,
And blotted out the mills!”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Victory comes late,
And is held low to freezing lips
Too rapt with frost
To take it.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Experiment to me
Is every one I meet.
If it contain a kernel?
The figure of a nut
Presents upon a tree,
Equally plausibly;
But meat within is requisite,
To squirrels and to me.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“I years had been from home,
And now, before the door,
I dared not open, lest a face
I never saw before
Stare vacant into mine
And ask my business there.
My business,—just a life I left,
Was such still dwelling there?”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“For each ecstatic instant
We must an anguish pay
In keen and quivering ratio
To the ecstasy.

For each beloved hour
Sharp pittances of years,
Bitter contested farthings
And coffers heaped with tears.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“Sweet hours have perished here;
This is a mighty room;
Within its precincts hopes have played,—
Now shadows in the tomb.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“I breathed enough to learn the trick,
And now, removed from air,
I simulate the breath so well,
That one, to be quite sure

The lungs are stirless, must descend
Among the cunning cells,
And touch the pantomime himself.
How cool the bellows feels!”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“To wander now is my abode;
To rest,—to rest would be
A privilege of hurricane
To memory and me.”
― Emily Dickinson, quote from The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.