"The labor of the alchemists, who were..." - Quote by William Butler Yeats

“Though I have many words,What woman's satisfied,I am no longer faintBecause at her side?O who could have foretoldThat the heart grows old?”

“When all is said and done, how do we know but that our own unreason may be better than another's truth? for it has been warmed on our hearths and in our souls, and is ready for the wild bees of truth to hive in it, and make their sweet honey.”

“Though logic-choppers rule the town,And every man and maid and boyHas marked a distant object down,An aimless joy is a pure joy.”

“As for the story, whether the poet takes it ready made or constructs it for himself, he should first sketch its general outline, and then fill in the episodes and amplify in detail.”

“Those who are esteemed umpires of taste, are often persons who have acquired some knowledge of admired pictures or sculptures, andhave an inclination for whatever is elegant; but if you inquire whether they are beautiful souls, and whether their own acts are like fair pictures, you learn that they are selfish and sensual. Their cultivation is local, as if you should rub a log of dry wood in one spot to produce fire, all the rest remaining cold.”

“The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession.”

“I did work in a strip club, but I didn't strip. I danced, and I became very popular.”

“I call myself a labourer because I take pride in calling myself a spinner, weaver, farmer and scavenger.”

“Two simple principles lie at the bottom of the whole matter, and they may be precipitated into two rules. The first is that, when there is a choice, the milder drink is always the better-not merely the safer but the better. The second is that no really enlightened drinker ever takes a drink at a time when he has any work to do. There is, of course, more to it than this; but these are sufficient for the beginner, and even the virtuoso never outgrows them.”