Quotes by : John Ashbery

The first year was like icing. Then the cake started to show through …

Walter Pater said that all the arts aspire to the condition of music, but I’ve always felt that music....

The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.

I tried each thing, only some were immortal and free.

until only infinity remained of beauty

How many people came and stayed a certain time,Uttered light or dark speech that became part of youLike....

A little bunny or some kind of ferret was probablythere too, and bore witness as only rodents can.

You bad birds,But God shall not punish you, youShall be with us in heaven, though lessConscious of your....

Things can harden meaningfully in the moment of indecision

It is the lumps and trialsThat tell us whether we shall be knownAnd whether our fate can be exemplary,....