Quotes by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

“Recipe For Happiness Khaborovsk Or Anyplace'One grand boulevard with treeswith one grand cafe in sunwith strong black coffee in very small cups.One not necessarily very beautifulman or woman who lo...”

“I am awaitingperpetually and forevera renaissance of wonder”

“Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone.”

“Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations.”

“Poetry is a naked woman, a naked man, and the distance between them.”

“We have seen the best minds of our generation destroyed by boredom at poetry readings.”

“See it was like this when we waltz into this place.A couple of papish cats is doing an Aztec two-stepAnd I says Dad let's cutbut then this dame comes up behind me see and says you and me could real...”

“I am waiting for the war to be fought which will make the world safe for anarchy”

“Don't patronize the chain bookstores. Every time I see some author scheduled to read and sign his books at a chain bookstore, I feel like telling him he's stabbing the independent bookstores in the...”

“[in the true mad north] of introspection,where 'falcons of the inner eye'dive and die, glimpsing in their dying fall, all life's memory of existence.”

“If you're too open-minded your brains will fall out. ”

“I didnt know that painters and writers retired. Theyre like soldiers they just fade away.”

“Decide if a poem is a question or a declaration, a meditation or an outcry.”

“Almost every truly creative being alienated & expatriated in his own country”

“Pity the nation whose people are sheep,and whose shepherds mislead them.Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.Pity the nation that ra...”

“Don't bow down to critics who have not themselves written great masterpieces.”

“Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.”

“I once started outto walk around the worldbut ended up in Brooklyn,that Bridge was too much for me.”

“I think if there's a great depression there might be some hope.”

“If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out.”