Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburgwas an American poet, writer, and editor who won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg was widely regarded as "a major figure in contemporary literature", especially for volumes of his collected verse, including Chicago Poems, Cornhuskers, and Smoke and Steel. He enjoyed "unrivaled appeal as a poet in his day, perhaps because the breadth of his experiences connected him with so many strands of American life",...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth6 January 1878
CountryUnited States of America
A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.
Poetry is an art practiced with the terribly plastic material of human language.
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,/ Shovel them under and let me work -/ I am the grass; I cover all.
The machine yes, the machine, never wastes anybody's time, never watches the foreman, never talks back
(Chicago) Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders
I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory except the face of the woman on the American silver dollar
All politicians should have 3 hats -- one to throw into the ring, one to talk through, and one to pull rabbits out of if elected.
I am the people - the mob - the crowd - the mass. Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?
I feel like I'm drowning. Every night, I'm carrying home loads of things to read but I'm too exhausted. I keep clipping things and Xeroxing them and planning to read them eventually, but I just end up throwing it all away and feeling guilty.
Money is power, freedom, a cushion, the root of all evil, the sum of blessings.
Sandburg's retelling of Lincoln's attendance at an evangelist rally led by Peter Cartwright in 1846, in response to accusations by Cartwright's followers that he was an "infidel" - Cartwright was his opponent in his race for Congress:
The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.
I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.
The fog comes/ on little cat feet./ It sits looking over/ harbor and city/ on silent haunches/ and then moves on.