Quotes from The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984

Adrienne Rich ·  358 pages

Rating: (2.8K votes)


“Sleeping. Turning in turn like planets rotating in their midnight meadow: a touch is enough to let us know we're not alone in the universe, even in sleep.”
― Adrienne Rich, quote from The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984


“I am an instrument in the shape/ of a woman trying to translate pulsations/ into images for the relief of the body/ and the reconstruction of the mind.”
― Adrienne Rich, quote from The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984


“A language is a map of our failures”
― Adrienne Rich, quote from The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984


“We lie under the sheet
after making love, speaking
of loneliness
relieved in a book
relived in a book
so on that page
the clot and fissure
of it appears
words of a man
in pain
a naked word
entering the clot
a hand grasping
through bars:

deliverance

What happens between us
has happened for centuries
we know it from literature

still it happens

sexual jealousy
outflung hand
beating bed

dryness of mouth
after panting

there are books that describe all this
and they are useless”
― Adrienne Rich, quote from The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984


“A dream of tenderness
wrestles with all I know of history”
― Adrienne Rich, quote from The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New, 1950-1984



About the author

Adrienne Rich
Born place: in Baltimore, Maryland, The United States
Born date May 16, 1929
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“He is a true casualty of battle. There's not a physical scar, but look at the man's heart, and his head, and there are scars galore.”
― David Finkel, quote from The Good Soldiers


“I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man.”
― Primo Levi, quote from If This Is a Man / The Truce


“Someday, somehow, George would have to tell Mom that she was a girl. But this was not that day. And as for how, she had no idea.”
― quote from George


“It was from feeling oneself that one had reached the last barrier, that it was horrible, but that it could not be otherwise; that there was no escape for you; that you never could become a different man; that even if time and faith were still left you to change into something different you would most likely not wish to change; or if you did wish to, even then you would do nothing; because perhaps in reality there was nothing for you to change into.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, quote from Notes from the Underground


“I’m not brave,” I said, smiling despite myself. “Bravery implies I had a choice. I’m just me, you know?” I”
― Meredith Russo, quote from If I Was Your Girl


Interesting books

The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate
(4.8K)
The Pursuit of Love...
by Nancy Mitford
Wittgenstein's Nephew
(2.9K)
Wittgenstein's Nephe...
by Thomas Bernhard
Physik
(46.2K)
Physik
by Angie Sage
The Lady Elizabeth
(22.2K)
The Lady Elizabeth
by Alison Weir
The Thousandfold Thought
(8.9K)
The Thousandfold Tho...
by R. Scott Bakker
Tricked
(37.3K)
Tricked
by Kevin Hearne

About BookQuoters

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.