Carl Sandburg

“Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you.”

“I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.”

“Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”

“Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure if they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.”

“There are people who want to be everywhere at once, and they get nowhere.”

“Hope is an echo, hope ties itself yonder, yonder.”

“Love your neighbor as yourself, but don't take down the fence.”

“Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess what is seen during a moment.”

“Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air.”

“Nothing happens unless first a dream.”

“Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come.”

“Life is like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.”

“Come clean with a child heart Laugh as peaches in the summer wind Let rain on a house roof be a song Let the writing on your face be a smell of apple orchards on late June.”

“A man must find time for himself. Time is what we spend our lives with. If we are not careful we find others spending it for us. . . . It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by hi...”

“A baby is God's opinion that life should go on. A book that does nothing to you is dead. A baby, whether it does anything to you, represents life. If a bad fire should break out in this hous...”

“Tell no man anything, for no man listens Yet hold thy lips ready to speak.”

“Read the dictionary from A to Izzard today. Get a vocabulary. Brush up on your diction. See whether wisdom is just a lot of language.”

“Poetry is an echo asking a shadow to dance.”

“Gather the stars if you wish it so Gather the songs and keep them. Gather the faces of women. Gather for keeping years and years. And then... Loosen your hands, let go and say good-bye. Let...”

“Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.”