Stevie Smith Quotes

Oh I am a cat that likes to Gallop about doing good.

Scorpion so wishes to be gone.

‘This night shall thy soul be required of thee.’ My soul is never required of me It always has to be somebody else of course. Will my soul be required of me tonight perhaps?

Private Means is dead God rest his soul, officers and fellow-rankers said.

I long for the Person from Porlock To bring my thoughts to an end. I am growing impatient to see him I think of him as a friend.

Why does my Muse only speak when she is unhappy? She does not, I only listen when I am unhappy When I am happy I live and despise writing For my Muse this cannot but be dispiriting.

Shall I tell you the signs of a New Age coming? It is a sound of drubbing and sobbing Of people crying, We are old, we are old And the sun is going down and becoming cold.

People who are always praising the past And especially the times of faith as best Ought to go and live in the Middle Ages And be burnt at the stake as witches and sages.

Let all the little poets be gathered together in classes And let prizes be given to them by the Prize Asses.

Here is all straight and narrow as a tomb Oh shut me not within a little room.

If you cannot have your dear husband for a comfort and a delight, for a breadwinner and a crosspatch, for a sofa, chair or a hot-water bottle, one can use him as a Cross to be Borne.