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Stevie Smith Biography

Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist.

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Stevie Smith Quotes

Oh Lion in a peculiar guise, Sharp Roman road to Paradise, Come eat me up, I'll pay thy toll With all my flesh, and keep my soul.

Paradise, Peculiar, Soul, Thy, Toll, Tolls

The human creature is alone in his carapace. Poetry is a strong way out.

Alone, Carapace, Human, Poetry Is, Strong, Way

I may be smelly and I may be old, Rough in my pebbles, reedy in my pools, But where my fish float by I bless their swimming, And I like the people to bathe in me especially women.

Bathe, Fish Tanks, People, Pools, Swimming

Not Waving but Drowning Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he's dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. Oh, no no no, it was too cold always (Still the dead one lay moaning) I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.

Cold, Heart, Loved, Men, Thought, Way

I don't think Auden liked my poetry very much, he's very Anglican.

Anglican, Auden, Liked, Poetry, Thinking

Nothing is more wistful than the scent of lilac, nor more robust than its woody stalk, for we must remember that it is a tree as well as a flower, we must try not to forget this.

Flower, Nothing, Remember, Tree, Trying

I love people, but I love the thought and memory of them just as much.

Love, Memories, Memory, People, Thought

Marriage I think For women Is the best of opiates. It kills the thoughts That think about the thoughts, It is the best of opiates. So said Maria. But too long in solitude she'd dwelt, And too long her thoughts had felt Their strength. So when the man drew near, Out popped her thoughts and covered him with fear. Poor Maria! Better that she had kept her thoughts on a chain, For now she's alone again and all in pain; She sighs for the man that went and the thoughts that stay To trouble her dreams by night and her dreams by day.

Dream, Felt, Kills, Pain, Poor, Thinking

I only asked my friends to be friendly and polite, I found them indifferent and censorious; The one I left to silence, the other to reproach: God send me over all such friends victorious.

Found, Friendly, Friendship, Indifferent, Silence

Youth is an arithmetical statement of passing interest, each hour eats it up.

Arithmetical, Eats, Hours, Passing, Statement, Youth

Who is this that comes in grandeur, coming from the blazing East? This is he we had not thought of, this is he the airy Christ.

Airy, Blazing, Christ, East, Thought

As Nature is always careless and indifferent Who sees, who steps, means nothing and this is pretty.

Beauty, Careless, Mean, Nature, Nothing, Pretty

Christianity in the suburb is cheerful. The church is a centre of social activity and those who go to church need never be lonely.

Activity, Christian, Christianity, Church, Lonely

If a lady comes up to you and tells you that your dear mama is lying in a faint on the pavement round the corner, don't you believe her, don't have anything to do with her, do not go with her into the cab. It is the White Slave Traffic.

Believe, Lying, Round, Slave, White

If I lie down on my bed I must be here, But if I lie down in my grave I may be elsewhere.

Bed, Down, Grave, Lying, May

People who are always praising the past And especially the time of faith as best Ought to go and live in the Middle Ages And be burnt at the stake as witches and sages.

Age, Middle, Past, People, Sages, Witches

one never knows really how things are with other people, they just do always seem more spirited than oneself somehow.

Knows, Oneself, People, Spirited

All poetry has to do is to make a strong communication. All the poet has to do is listen. The poet is not an important fellow. There will also be another poet.

Communication, Important, Listen, Poet, Strong

This is the simplest of all thoughts, that Death must come when we call, although he is a god.

Although, Come, Death, Simplest, Thoughts

It is the privilege of the rich To waste the time of the poor To water with tears in secret A tree that grows in secret That bears fruit in secret That ripened falls to the ground in secret And manures the parent tree Oh the wicked tree of hatred and the secret The sap rising and the tears falling.

Fall, Hatred, Parent, Secret, Waste, Water

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