“A poet is born not made.”
Poeta nascitur, non fit
“Every old poem is sacred.”
“Poets are born, not paid.”
“Poetry is life distilled.”
“Poetry’s a mere drug, Sir.”
“Only poetry inspires poetry.”
“Poets wish to profit or to please.”
“A good poet's made as well as born.”
“Poetry should only occupy the idle.”
“The eye is the notebook of the poet.”
“Poetry is what is lost in translation.”
“The poet is the priest of the invisible.”
“A poem is never finished, only abandoned.”
“The essence of poetry is will and passion.”
“A person born with an instinct for poverty.”
“Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal.”
“A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”
“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.”
“Poetry is what Milton saw when he went blind.”
“Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat.”
“A poet can survive everything but a misprint.”
“The man is either mad, or he is making verses.”
“Inside every man there is a poet who died young.”
“Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.”
“The blood jet is poetry, There is no stopping it.”
“Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of nature.”
“Poetry is indispensable --if I only knew what for.”
“Poetry must be new as foam, and as old as the rock.”
“With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.”
“Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”