TOPICS
SPEAKERS
HOME
BROWSE TOPICS
BROWSE SPEAKERS
◀ BACK

Emily Dickinson

Writer

Emily Dickinson, one of America’s most revered poets, explored the inner world of emotion, nature, and existence with remarkable depth and subtlety. Her quotes reveal her keen observations, introspective wisdom, and unique perspective on life and mortality. Together, they offer timeless reflections that inspire contemplation, self-discovery, and an appreciation for the beauty and complexity of the human experience.

1
2
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
Success is counted sweetest by those ne'er succeed.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Success
In a serener Bright,
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
I dwell in possibility.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Success
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope, Inspirational
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
She died--this was the way she died;
And when her breath was done,
Took up her simple wardrobe
And started for the sun.
Her little figure at the gate
The angels must have spied,
Since I could never find her
Upon the mortal side.
From Selected Poems
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
From Dickinson: Poems
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind--
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth,--
The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Faith is a fine invention
When gentlemen can see,
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Religion
We cherish all the past, we glide a-down the present, awake yet dreaming; but the future of ours together—there the bird sings loudest, and the sun shines always there...
From Emily Dickinson: Letters
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
That I shall love always,
I argue thee
that love is life,
and life hath immortality
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,—the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
From The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
If I can stop one Heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can Ease one life the Aching,
Or cool one Pain

Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again,
I shall not live in Vain.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
We do not play on Graves—
Because there isn't Room—
Besides—it isn't even—it slants
And People come—

And put a Flower on it—
And hang their faces so—
We're fearing that their Hearts will drop—
And crush our pretty play—

And so we move as far
As Enemies—away—
Just looking round to see how far
It is—Occasionally—
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
Success is counted sweetest by those ne'er succeed.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Success
In a serener Bright,
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
I dwell in possibility.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Success
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope, Inspirational
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
She died--this was the way she died;
And when her breath was done,
Took up her simple wardrobe
And started for the sun.
Her little figure at the gate
The angels must have spied,
Since I could never find her
Upon the mortal side.
From Selected Poems
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
From Dickinson: Poems
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind--
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth,--
The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Faith is a fine invention
When gentlemen can see,
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Religion
We cherish all the past, we glide a-down the present, awake yet dreaming; but the future of ours together—there the bird sings loudest, and the sun shines always there...
From Emily Dickinson: Letters
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
That I shall love always,
I argue thee
that love is life,
and life hath immortality
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,—the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
From The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
If I can stop one Heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can Ease one life the Aching,
Or cool one Pain

Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again,
I shall not live in Vain.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
We do not play on Graves—
Because there isn't Room—
Besides—it isn't even—it slants
And People come—

And put a Flower on it—
And hang their faces so—
We're fearing that their Hearts will drop—
And crush our pretty play—

And so we move as far
As Enemies—away—
Just looking round to see how far
It is—Occasionally—
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Happiness
Success is counted sweetest by those ne'er succeed.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Success
In a serener Bright,
In a more golden light
I see
Each little doubt and fear,
Each little discord here
Removed.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
I dwell in possibility.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Success
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope, Inspirational
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
She died--this was the way she died;
And when her breath was done,
Took up her simple wardrobe
And started for the sun.
Her little figure at the gate
The angels must have spied,
Since I could never find her
Upon the mortal side.
From Selected Poems
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
From Dickinson: Poems
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind--
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Inspirational
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth,--
The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Faith is a fine invention
When gentlemen can see,
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Religion
We cherish all the past, we glide a-down the present, awake yet dreaming; but the future of ours together—there the bird sings loudest, and the sun shines always there...
From Emily Dickinson: Letters
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Hope
That I shall love always,
I argue thee
that love is life,
and life hath immortality
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,—the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
From The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell.
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
If I can stop one Heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can Ease one life the Aching,
Or cool one Pain

Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again,
I shall not live in Vain.
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Life
We do not play on Graves—
Because there isn't Room—
Besides—it isn't even—it slants
And People come—

And put a Flower on it—
And hang their faces so—
We're fearing that their Hearts will drop—
And crush our pretty play—

And so we move as far
As Enemies—away—
Just looking round to see how far
It is—Occasionally—
NOT YET RATING ▼
Topic: Death
1
2