The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Because of her opinionated mind
Barter that horn and every good
By quiet natures understood
For an old bellows full of angry wind?
‘A Prayer for My Daughter’
I think it better that at times like these
We poets keep our mouths shut, for in truth
We have no gift to set a statesman right;
He’s had enough of meddling who can please
A young girl in the indolence of her youth
Or an old man upon a winter’s night.
‘A Reason for Keeping Silent’
Out of Ireland have we come.
Great hatred, little room,
Maimed us at the start.
I carry from my mother’s womb
A fanatic heart.
‘Remorse for Intemperate Speech’
Rose of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
‘The Rose of Battle’
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees—
Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish flesh or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten born and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
‘Sailing to Byzantium’
An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.
‘Sailing to Byzantium’
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
‘Sailing to Byzantium’
Bald heads forgetful of their sins,
Old, learned, respectable bald heads
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