11 Quotes & Sayings By Stanley Kunitz

Stanley Kunitz was born in New York City in 1908 and spent his early years in a noisy tenement in the Bronx. He was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and spoke Yiddish at home with his parents and at school with his friends. His father, a tailor, worked long hours in his shop, but he also read books to his children, including novels by Tolstoy. At age fifteen, Kunitz became a copy boy for the "New York American" newspaper and later went into the business that would become his life's work: book publishing Read more

His wife, Betty, is an author and educator who has been called "a major influence on the literary scene of this country" (San Francisco Chronicle). They live in Greenwich Village and enjoy traveling and visiting museums and other cultural institutions.

I can hardly wait for tomorrow, it means a new...
1
I can hardly wait for tomorrow, it means a new life for me each and every day. Stanley Kunitz
2
In my darkest night, when the moon was coveredand I roamed through wreckage, a nimbus-clouded voicedirected me:“ Live in the layers, not on the litter.” Though I lack the artto decipher it, no doubt the next chapterin my book of transformationsis already written. I am not done with my changes. Stanley Kunitz
Darling, do you rememberthe man you married? Touch me, remind...
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Darling, do you rememberthe man you married? Touch me, remind me who I am. Stanley Kunitz
You must be careful not to deprive the poem of...
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You must be careful not to deprive the poem of its wild origin. Stanley Kunitz
...few young poets [are] testing their poems against the ear....
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...few young poets [are] testing their poems against the ear. They're writing for the page, and the page, let me tell you, is a cold bed. Stanley Kunitz
Mind's acres are forever green: Oh, IShall keep perpetual summer...
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Mind's acres are forever green: Oh, IShall keep perpetual summer here; I shall Refuse to let one startled swallow die, Or, from the copper beeches, one leaf fall. Stanley Kunitz
End with an image and don't explain.
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End with an image and don't explain. Stanley Kunitz
What makes the engine go? Desire, desire, desire.
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What makes the engine go? Desire, desire, desire. Stanley Kunitz
9
Toward dawn we shared with youyour hour of desolation, the huge lingering passionof your unearthly out cry, as you swung your blind headtowards us and laboriously openeda bloodshot, glistening eye, in which we swam with terror and recognition. Stanley Kunitz
10
We have all been expelled from the Garden, but the ones who suffer most in exile are those who are still permitted to dream of perfection. Stanley Kunitz