David Whyte
David Whyte
David Whytewas an English professional footballer who played as a striker...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
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.
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.
apart broken exploded field great human prior promoted rise territory
One of the great difficulties as you rise up through an organisation is that your prior competencies are exploded and broken apart by the territory you've been promoted into: the field of human identity.
great poetry
The thing about great poetry is we have no defenses against it.
difficulty great leadership smacks
In Germany, they have great difficulty with anything that smacks of cultism or messianic leadership. You can't talk about leadership in its charismatic forms.
fear
It is not the thing you fear that you must deal with: it is the mother of the thing you fear.
adolescent almost attempting longer partly relate tough
There are many tough conversations, but one of the most difficult is between a parent and an adolescent daughter, partly because as a parent we are almost always attempting to relate to someone who is no longer there.
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.
attempting change eliminate trying
Stop trying to change reality by attempting to eliminate complexity.
brief evocative lost possibilities
Regret is a short, evocative and achingly beautiful word: an elegy to lost possibilities even in its brief annunciation.
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.
carries large life poetry
Poetry carries the imagery which is large enough for the kind of life we want for ourselves.
close lies necessary relationship truth understanding wanting
Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.
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.