David Whyte
David Whyte
David Whytewas an English professional footballer who played as a striker...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
richness saving speak time
We speak continually of saving time, but time in its richness is most often lost to us when we are busy without relief.
admit beyond difficult fallible greatest lose powers sincere understand unspoken
To admit regret is to understand that we are fallible - that there are powers beyond us. To admit regret is to lose control not only of a difficult past but of the very story we tell about our present. To admit sincere and abiding regret is one of our greatest but unspoken contemporary sins.
hope less moving toward work
We're moving toward the kind of work world which has less security. But we hope it has more creativity and possibility of real engagement.
german
When I'm working with German audiences, I will call on my Rilke and Goethe in the original.
escape life millions people quiet
There are millions of people living Thoreau's life of quiet desperation, and they do not have the language to escape from that desperation.
admitting exactly grounded honesty humility indeed
Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless.
absolutely complete epic life
Sometimes you have to make a complete disaster of your life in such an epic way that it will be absolutely clear to you what you've been doing.
close lies necessary relationship truth understanding wanting
Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.
carries large life poetry
Poetry carries the imagery which is large enough for the kind of life we want for ourselves.
companions courage gives great poems poetry sets straight
Poetry gives us courage and sets us straight with the world. Poems are great companions and friends.
include job necessary richer
Things have a way of being richer in the end, a product better made, for the circuitous route we take to include all the elements that are necessary for a job well done.
brief evocative lost possibilities
Regret is a short, evocative and achingly beautiful word: an elegy to lost possibilities even in its brief annunciation.
attempting change eliminate trying
Stop trying to change reality by attempting to eliminate complexity.
carry fault full
Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story; we do not know where we are in the story. We do not know who, ultimately, is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end.