Stephen Spender

“A writer's life is in his work, and that is the place to find him.”

“My parents kept me from the street and taught me that the world of money was the world of sin.”

“The conspiracies of silence which we have to endure are darker than the darkest secrete of the confessional.”

“I think continually of those who were truly great.”

“History is the ship carrying living memories to the future.”

“All that is personal soon rots; it must be packed in ice or salt.”

“To break out of the chaos of my darkness into a lucid day is all my will.”

“What is precious is never to forget the essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs.”

“Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun, And left the vivid air signed with their honour.”

“The names of the parts of a gun are the parts of my body.”

“A poet is a time mechanic not an embalmer.”

“The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise.”

“Eye, gazelle, delicate wanderer, drinker of shadows, shy feast.”

“Death is another milestone on their way. With laughter on their lips and with winds blowing round them they record simply How this one excelled all others in making driving belts.”