7 Quotes & Sayings By Stephen Spender

Stephen Spender (1909–1995) was a writer and literary critic who was also a political activist and pacifist. He was the son of the British poet and critic Vivian Stephen and the younger brother of novelist Virginia Woolf. He served as the literary editor of the New Statesman from 1934 to 1948, and as an editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1948 to 1968. His best-known work is his autobiography, "A Fighter's Adventures" (1956), which is a powerful narrative of his boyhood and early adolescent years spent with his wealthy and eccentric family, and of his experiences as a young man during World War II.

1
The greatest of all human delusions is that there is a tangible goal, and not just direction towards an ideal aim. The idea that a goal can be attained perpetually frustrates human beings, who are disappointed at never getting there, never being able to stop. Stephen Spender
2
Although Poets are vain and ambitious, their vanity and ambition are of the purest kind attainable in this world. They are ambitious to be accepted for what they altimately are as revealed in their poetry. Stephen Spender
3
When you read and understand a poem comprehending its rich and formal meanings then you master chaos a little. Stephen Spender
4
Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun And left the vivid air signed with their honour. Stephen Spender
5
Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do. Stephen Spender
6
When a child, my dreams rode on your wishes, I was your son, high on your horse, My mind a top whipped by the lashes Of your rhetoric, windy of course. Stephen Spender