Friday, February 17, 2012

Odes to the Pen

"The pen is the tongue of the mind."
Horace, Roman Poet 8BC

"I am no Poet here; my pen is the spout where the rain water of my eyes run out." 
John Cleveland (1613-1658). English poet.

A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.
Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962). French philosopher and poet.

What has any poet to trust more than the feel of the thing? Theory concerns him only until he picks up his pen, and it begins to concern him again as soon as he lays it down. 
John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, translator, and etymologist. 

In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write. 
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) Pulitzer prize winning American author.

"I wear my pen as others do their sword."
John Oldham, poet and novelist, English immigrant to Plymouth, 1623.

My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane.
Graham Greene (1904-1991) English playwright, storyteller, novelist, and critic. 

The material came bubbling up inside like a geyser or an oil gusher. It streamed up of its own accord, down my arm and out of my fountain pen in a torrent of six thousand words a day. 
C. S. Forester (1899-1966), writer. 

"Every writing career starts as a personal quest for sainthood, for self-betterment. Sooner or later, and as a rule quite soon, a man discovers that his pen accomplishes a lot more than his soul."
Joseph Brodsky, Russian born American poet.

Inflated descriptions by the pen are exaggerated illustrations by the pencil.
Grace Darling (1815 –1842) One of England's best loved Victorian heroines.

The pen wherewith thou dost so heavenly sing made of a quill from an angel's wing.
Henry Constable (1562-1613). English poet most famous for Diana, a collection of sonnets.


(compiled by Victorian Trading Co. -- they have a special on pens this month!)