Mary Oliver Quotes

“If I ever meet one of these dogs I’m going to invite him to come here, where he can be a proper dog.”

“Running here running there, excited, hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins until the white snow is written upon in large, exuberant letters, a long sentence, expressing the pleasures of the body in this world. ”

“Steadfastness, it seems, is more about dogs than about us. One of the reasons we love them so much.”

“So I climb on the bed where the light of the moon is shining on your face and I know it will be morning soon. Everybody needs a safe place.”

“With what vigor and intention to please himself the little white dog flings himself into every puddle on the muddy road.”

“In the old days dogs in our town roamed freely. But the old ways changed.”

“For he was an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.”

“So when he found Sammy he would simply call him into his truck and drive him home. In this way, he lived a long and happy life, with many friends.”

″‘Keep me in your thoughts,’ he replies. ‘Just because I can’t count to ten doesn’t mean I don’t remember yesterday, or anticipate today.‘”

“For he was of the tribe of Wolf.”

“The university gave me a new, elegant classroom to teach in. Only one thing, they said. You can’t bring your dog. It’s in my contract, I said. (I had made sure of that.)”

“You’re like a little wild thing that was never sent to school. Sit, I say, and you jump up. Come, I say, and you go galloping down the sand to the nearest dead fish with which you perfume your sweet neck.”

“Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble. A dog is a true and loving friend. A dog is also a hedonist.”

“He really is as big as a horse, but actually a very sweet horse. I hope he comes again.”

“It is summer How many summers does a little dog have?”

“This is a poem about Percy This is a poem about more than Percy. Think about it.”

″...who am I to summon his hard and happy body his four white feet that love to wheel and pedal through the dark leaves to come back to walk by my side, obedient.”

“You love this earnest dog, but also you admire the raccoon and Lord help you in your place of hope and improbables.”

“Our new dog, named for the beloved poet, ate a book which unfortunately we had left unguarded.”

“What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs?”