55 Inspiring Poem Quotes

In a world brimming with complexities, sometimes the simplest words woven together in the form of a poem can spark profound inspiration. Poems have the unique power to touch our hearts, stir our souls, and give voice to emotions that often go unspoken. Whether seeking solace, motivation, or a fresh perspective, the right verse can strike a chord deep within us. In this collection, we've handpicked 55 of the most inspiring poem quotes that promise to uplift your spirit and perhaps even change the way you see the world. Dive in and let these timeless words of wisdom lead you on a journey of reflection and revelation.

1. “Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance.” - Anne Sexton

2. “to live in this worldyou must be ableto do three thingsto love what is mortal;to hold itagainst your bones knowingyour own life depends on it;and, when the time comes to let it go,to let it go” - Mary Oliver

3. “Journey’s endIn western lands beneath the SunThe flowers may rise in Spring,The trees may bud, the waters run,The merry finches sing.Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night,And swaying branches bearThe Elven-stars as jewels whiteAmid their branching hair.Though here at journey's end I lieIn darkness buried deep,Beyond all towers strong and high,Beyond all mountains steep,Above all shadows rides the SunAnd Stars for ever dwell:I will not say the Day is done,Nor bid the Stars farewell.J.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

4. “...like that star of the waning summer who beyond all stars rises bathed in the ocean stream to glitter in brilliance.” - Homer

5. “I often repeat repeat myself,I often repeat repeat.I don't don't know why know why,I simply know that I I Iam am inclined to say to saya lot a lot this way this way-I often repeat repeat myself,I often repeat repeat.I often repeat repeat myself,I often repeat repeat.My mom my mom gets mad gets mad,it irritates my dad my dad,it drives them up a tree a tree,that's what they tell they tell me me-I often repeat repeat myself,I often repeat repeat.I often repeat repeat myself,I often repeat repeat.It gets me in a jam a jam,but that's the way I am I am,in fact I think it's neat it's neatto to to to repeat repeat-I often repeat repeat myself,I often repeat repeat.” - Jack Prelutsky

6. “And the pebbles fight each other as rocks/And my father bends among them/Two hands outstretching up to me/Not that I can hear.” - Joe Strummer

7. “أنت سفري المفاجئورحلتي التي لم أحجز فيها مكاناوطريقي غير المعبدوالأزقة الضيقة التي يجهلها السواحوتقود إلى الدهشةأنت مشوار حجريمشيته حافية الأقداموبحر مشاكسركبته رغم تحذير الأعلاموكتاب عشقي مزوركتبته أنت.. ووقعته انا” - أحلام مستغانمي

8. “With the need for the self in the time of another / I left my seaport grim and dear / knowing good work could be made / in the state governed by both Hope and Despair.” - Roman Payne

9. “على وجهي الاصفر .. خريفٍ طال ..وسلال من رذاذ وملح ..وفي صدري حجارة نسيوها بحاره ..مروا علي فـ يوم ..وقالوا تعال معنا .. وما كان يجمعنا ..إلا الضياع والريح ..راجع من الايام .. من الاحلام ..ومن الف سناره .. مغروسة بقلبي ..لقيت لي بشارة .. ما اغلى عطا ربي ..أثر العمر ساره .. وموج البحر ساره .. وكل المدى ساره ..سافرت كل العمر .. وراجع احب سارة ..” - بدر بن عبدالمحسن

10. “The mind-is not the heart.I may yet live, as I know others live,To wish in vain to let go with the mind-Of cares, at night, to sleep; but nothing tells meThat I need learn to let go with the heart.” - Robert Frost

11. “Impatience kills quickly.” - Katerina Stoykova Klemer

12. “She asks why I like her.Might as well askWhy I breathe.Maybe tomorrow I won'tBreathe or like herAnymore.Maybe tomorrow the tidesWill stop.Maybe tomorrow will bringNo more rainbows.Maybe tomorrowShe will stopAsking useless questions.” - Gail Carson Levine

13. “ลมหายใจสุดท้ายใกล้จะลับเจียนชีพดับแล้วลาจันทาพี่เราคงต้องร้างไกลในวันนี้ท่วมทุกข์แผดผลาญฤดีให้อาดูรสำลักเลือดร่ำไห้หทัยเศร้าโศกใดเท่าร่างทุรนจนสิ้นสูญแต่ทุกข์แท้เท่าใดไม่เปรียบปูนเจ้าจะพูนเทวษท้นถึงพี่ยาเพียงพีชพรรณเขาพรากให้จากน้ำนทีต่ำเหือดแห้งแล้งวัสสาพี่เหือดแห้งแล้งใจยิ่งใดมาเพราะรู้ว่าจันทาระทมใจเช่นฝนพรำพรมพนาไม่ราร้างสุชลพร่างพรมพักตร์ไม่หักหายโศกของพี่ครั้งนี้ยิ่่งกว่าโศกใดเพราะเจ้าทุกข์ระทมใจถึงพี่ยา” - Srisurang

14. “Light is more important than the lantern,The poem more important than the notebook” - Nizar Qabbani

15. “Scientific People, unscientific mind; why are we dividing the world which could shine? Between religion and science, all what matters is human lives.” - Santosh Kalwar

16. “See mirror, every time you will miss me and look deeper into your eyes till you will find me.” - Santosh Kalwar

17. “Herr kakkerlakk i fotsid frakk og med for store sko, gikk på basar og vant et par kalosjer nummer to. Herr kakkerlakk sa tusen takk! og pakket gaven sammen, nå skal jeg hjem og vise dem til barna ogg madammen!” - Inger Hagerup

18. “As a perfume doth remain In the folds where it hath lain, So the thought of you, remaining Deeply folded in my brain, Will not leave me; all things leave me -You remain. Other thoughts may come and go, Other moments I may know That shall waft me, in their going, As a breath blown to and fro, Fragrant memories; fragrant memories Come and go. Only thoughts of you remain In my heart where they have lain, Perfumed thoughts of you, remaining, A hid sweetness, in my brain. Others leave me; all things leave me -You remain.” - Arthur Symons

19. “I have studied many timesThe marble which was chiseled for me—A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.In truth it pictures not my destinationBut my life.For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.And now I know that we must lift the sailAnd catch the winds of destinyWherever they drive the boat.To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,But life without meaning is the tortureOf restlessness and vague desire—It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.” - Edgar Lee Masters

20. “They're both convincedthat a sudden passion joined them.Such certainty is beautiful,but uncertainty is more beautiful still.Since they'd never met before, they're surethat there'd been nothing between them.But what's the word from the streets, staircases, hallways--perhaps they've passed by each other a million times?I want to ask themif they don't remember--a moment face to facein some revolving door?perhaps a "sorry" muttered in a crowd?a curt "wrong number" caught in the receiver?but I know the answer.No, they don't remember.They'd be amazed to hearthat Chance has been toying with themnow for years.Not quite ready yetto become their Destiny,it pushed them close, drove them apart,it barred their path,stifling a laugh,and then leaped aside.There were signs and signals,even if they couldn't read them yet.Perhaps three years agoor just last Tuesdaya certain leaf flutteredfrom one shoulder to another?Something was dropped and then picked up.Who knows, maybe the ball that vanishedinto childhood's thicket?There were doorknobs and doorbellswhere one touch had covered another beforehand.Suitcases checked and standing side by side.One night, perhaps, the same dream,grown hazy by morning.Every beginningis only a sequel, after all,and the book of eventsis always open halfway through.” - Wislawa Szymborska

21. “DAISIESIt is possible, I suppose that sometimewe will learn everythingthere is to learn: what the world is, for example,and what it means. I think this as I am crossingfrom one field to another, in summer, and themockingbird is mocking me, as one who eitherknows enough already or knows enough to beperfectly content not knowing. Song being bornof quest he knows this: he must turn silentwere he suddenly assaulted with answers. Insteadoh hear his wild, caustic, tender warbling ceaselesslyunanswered. At my feet the white-petalled daisies displaythe small suns of their center piece, their -- if you don'tmind my saying so -- their hearts. Of courseI could be wrong, perhaps their hearts are pale andnarrow and hidden in the roots. What do I know?But this: it is heaven itself to take what is given,to see what is plain; what the sun lights up willingly;for example -- I think thisas I reach down, not to pick but merely to touch --the suitability of the field for the daisies, and thedaisies for the field.” - Mary Oliver

22. “tone of colour in a room or a morning sky, a particular perfume that you had once loved and that brings subtle memories with it, a line from a forgotten poem that you had come across again, a cadence from a piece of music that you had ceased to play— I tell you, Dorian, that it is on things like these that our lives depend.” - Oscar Wilde

23. “Be there a picnic for the devil,an orgy for the satyr,and a wedding for the bride.” - Roman Payne

24. “Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed awayIn the parable Jesus told,A grown-up sheep that strayed awayFrom the ninety and nine in the fold.And why for the sheep should we seekAnd earnestly hope and pray?Because there is danger when sheep go wrong;They lead the lambs astray.Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,Wherever the sheep may stray.When sheep go wrong, it won’t take longTil the lambs are as wrong as they.And so with the sheep we earnestly pleadFor the sake of the lambs today,For when sheep are lost, what a terrible costThe lambs will have to pay!” - C.C. Miller

25. “And now dear little children, who may this story read, To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed: Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye, And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.” - Mary Howitt

26. “I am 15 and you are 51, I know you are the best, to be loved by, everyone.” - Santosh Kalwar

27. “This is for you, all the women of the worldThose who lived, all who ever willthis is for your love, mine is yoursLove is fate, I am hereBecause you know the meaning of lifeThat begins and ends with a kissWe are knights in shining ardor, who toil for youAnd our children, it's a circleSo they will know this truthLove is the sacred gospel, all we need to knowAs your son and lover, my spirit lives imbuedWith, from and by your wisdom and beautyI am here to pay honor and homage to your soulThis is and will always be my devotionThis I dedicate, because through you I become whole” - Trevor McShane

28. “My care is like my shadow in the sun, Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it, Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.” - Elizabeth I

29. “Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody's head off.” - Mary Karr

30. “an English girl might well believethat time is how you spend your love.” - Nick Laird

31. “I notice you have the assault proof vest -So it's my fault I guess.So apparently I didn't say 'no' as loud as my clothes could say 'yes.'You see I didn't know that my ‘no’ wasn't enough -I didn't understand that my body became less precious because certain dresses make me look hot.And I guess if I'm wearing the wrong topthen my ‘yes’ is the same as ‘stop.’And you shouldn't have to, just because I begged you to.I'm begging you -Tell me the magic outfit and I'll buy it.Apparently my ‘no’ wasn't heard,even when I screamed.So I need my clothes to be quiet.” - Connell, Steve

32. “Time moved for you not in quotidian beats, but in the slow rhythm the ages keep –” - Aldous Huxley

33. “Tiho, o tiho govori mi jesen;Šuštanjem lišća i šapatom kiše.Al zima srcu govori još tiše.I kada sniježi, a spušta se tama,U pahuljama tišina je sama.” - Dobriša Cesarić

34. “If I should have a daughter…“Instead of “Mom”, she’s gonna call me “Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say “Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.”She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isn’t coming, I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I’ve tried.And “Baby,” I’ll tell her “don’t keep your nose up in the air like that, I know that trick, you’re just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place to see if you can change him.”But I know that she will anyway, so instead I’ll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boats nearby, ‘cause there is no heartbreak that chocolate can’t fix. Okay, there’s a few heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix. But that’s what the rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it.I want her to see the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat, to look through a magnifying glass at the galaxies that exist on the pin point of a human mind. Because that’s how my mom taught me. That there’ll be days like this, “There’ll be days like this my momma said” when you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises. When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you wanna save are the ones standing on your cape. When your boots will fill with rain and you’ll be up to your knees in disappointment and those are the very days you have all the more reason to say “thank you,” ‘cause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away.You will put the “wind” in win some lose some, you will put the “star” in starting over and over, and no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting I am pretty damn naive but I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.“Baby,” I’ll tell her “remember your mama is a worrier but your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.”Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things and always apologize when you’ve done something wrong but don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.Your voice is small but don’t ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.” - Sarah Kay

35. “Kamu menulis: "Kita sudah mengatakan A, maka kita harus menyebutkan seluruh huruf." Namun masalah itu sekarang sudah sedemikian luar biasa hingga aku menjadi ragu. Maka, kukutipkan puisi singkat dari Jan Erik Vold mengenai hal itu:"Siapa yang mengatakan ATelah mengatakan A"Kamu mengerti yang kumaksud, kan? Kalau kamu telah mengatakan A, maka kamu telah mengatakan A dan harus menjalani segala resiko yang mengikutinya. Tapi, itu tak berarti bahwa kamu juga harus mengatakan B.” - Jostein Gaarder

36. “We will paste upon the curled pages wordsLike charming and romantic and sentimentalForgetting that charming is witchcraftRomantic is loveAnd sentiment is what makes us human” - Emilie Autumn

37. “JARAKdan Adam turun di hutan-hutanmengabur dalam dongengandan kita tiba-tiba di sinitengadah ke langit; kosong sepi” - Sapardi Djoko Damono

38. “Life is a poem most people never read.” - Laurence Overmire

39. “My child, I know you're not a childBut I still see you running wildBetween those flowering trees.Your sparkling dreams, your silver laughYour wishes to the stars above Are just my memories.And in your eyes the oceanAnd in your eyes the seaThe waters frozen overWith your longing to be free.Yesterday you'd awokenTo a world incredibly old.This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.You had to kill this child, I know.To break the arrows and the bowTo shed your skin and change.The trees are flowering no moreThere's blood upon the tiles floorThis place is dark and strange.I see you standing in the stormHolding the curse of youthEach of you with your storyEach of you with your truth.Some words will never be spokenSome stories will never be told.This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.I didn't say the world was good.I hoped by now you understoodWhy I could never lie.I didn't promise you a thing. Don't ask my wintervoice for springJust spread your wings and fly.Though in the hidden gardenDown by the green green laneThe plant of love grows next toThe tree of hate and pain.So take my tears as a token.They'll keep you warm in the cold.This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.You've lived too long among usTo leave without a traceYou've lived too short to understandA thing about this place.Some of you just sit there smokingAnd some are already sold. This is the age you are brokenOr turned into gold.This is the age you are broken or turned into gold.” - Antonia Michaelis

40. “ANY FOOL CAN GET INTO AN OCEAN BUT IT TAKES A GODDESS TO GET OUT OF ONE.” - Jack Spicer

41. “I listened long to your story,Listened but could not hear.When you chose to walk that path so overgrown,I remained alone with my fear.Cold silence covers the distance,Stretches from shore to shore.I follow in my mind your far-off journeying,But I will walk that path no more.” - Anne Elisabeth Stengl

42. “The children walk away from me, flick flickety off at a tangent between thin blotched beech trunks, then turn like yo-yos at the end of their strings and come back to me" from the poem "In a BishopsWood Clearing” - jay woodman

43. “Is it possible to write a poem or are these words just screams of outlaws exiled to the desert?” - Dejan Stojanovic

44. “I wanted to write the most beautiful poem but that is impossible; the world has written its own.” - Dejan Stojnaovic

45. “blue-gold sky, fresh cloud, emerald-black mountain, trees on rocky ledges, on the summit, the tiny pin of a telephone tower-all brilliantly clear, in shadow and out. and on and through everything everywhere the sun shines without reservation (p. 97)” - Barbara Blatner

46. “...gripping the rim of the sink you claw your way to stand and cling there, quaking with will, on heron legs, and still the hot muck pours out of you. (p. 27)” - Barbara Blatner

47. “Your soul: pure glucose edged with hintsOf tentative and half-soiled tints” - Edith Sitwell

48. “All day long you sit and sew,Stitch life down for fear it grow,Stitch life down for fear we guessAt the hidden ugliness.Dusty voice that throbs with heat,Hoping with your steel-thin beatTo put stitches in my mind,Make it tidy, make it kind,You shall not: I'll keep it freeThough you turn earth, sky and seaTo a patchwork quilt to keepYour mind snug and warm in sleep!” - Edith Sitwell

49. “For [W. B.] Yeats magic was not so much a kind of poetry as poetry a kind of magic, and the object of both alike was evocation of energies and knowledge from beyond normal consciousness.” - Kathleen Raine

50. “If, of all words of tongue and pen,The saddest are, 'It might have been,'More sad are these we daily see:'It is, but hadn't ought to be.” - Bret Harte

51. “The search began 10 years agoTo find a nasty viscous foeThey searched in caves and undergroundBut no Bin Laden could be foundThe President full of seethingCalls his Generals to a meetingHave you looked under your noses?Is the question he proposesQuick smart a search is under wayA General comes back the same dayOh president you’re the cats pyjamasYou really do have all the answersDo you know that sneaky toadIs in a house down the roadObama calls him a useless bum(It’s time to get that terror scum)The SEALS are sent to get their manFrom a house in PakistanBut from behind his wifely shieldOsama Bin Laden does not yieldYou’ll not take me you infidelThe SEAL replies you go to hellYou scum this is for 9-11Then shoots him dead with his weapon” - Papa G.

52. “Holding up an oil-paper umbrella,I loiter aimlessly in the long, longAnd lonely rainy alley,I hope to encounterA lilac-like girlNursing her resentmentA lilac-like color she hasA lilac-like fragrance,A lilac-like sadness,Melancholy in the rain,Sorrowful and uncertain;She loiters aimlessly in this lonely rainy alleyHolding up an oil-paper umbrellaJust like meAnd just like meWalks silently,Apathetic, sad and disconsolateSilently she moves closerMoves closer and castsA sigh-like glanceShe glides byLike a dreamHazy and confused like a dreamAs in a dream she glides pastLike a lilac spray,This girl glides past beside me;She silently moves away, moves awayUp to the broken-down bamboo fence,To the end of the rainy alley.In the rains sad song,Her color vanishesHer fragrance diffuses,Even herSigh-like glance,Lilac-like discontentVanish.Holding up an oil-paper umbrella, aloneAimlessly walking in the long, longAnd lonely rainy alley,I wish forA lilac-like girlNursing her resentment glide by.” - Dai Wangshu

53. “Welcome to thee,O sword of eternity!Through BuddhaAnd through Daruma alikeThou hast cleft thy way.” - Kakuzo Okakura

54. “Better off dead than giving in; not taking what you want.” - Carol Ann Duffy

55. “The world's an incessant transformation, and to meditateis awareness, with noclinging to,no working on, the mind.It is a floating; ever-moving; 'marvellous emptiness'.Only absorption in such a practice will release usfrom the accidents, and appetites,of life.And upon this leaf one shall cross overthe stormy sea,among the dragon-like waves.” - Robert Gray