"I have wished you something None of the others would....

Sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three (Which was rather late for me) between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles' first LP.
~ Philip Larkin ~












Sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three (Which was rather late for me) between the end of t...
Show MoreMore Philip Larkin quotes
"The Old FoolsWhat do they think has happened, the old fools,To make them like this ? Do they somehow supposeIt's more grown-up when your mouth hangs o...
"I think that at the bottom of all art lies the impulse to preserve.
"Poetry is an affair of sanity, of seeing things as they are.
"SEX is designed for people who like overcoming obstacles.
"Poetry is nobody’s business except the poet’s, and everybody else can fuck off.
"Only in books the flat and final happens, Only in dreams we meet and interlock....
"Sex means nothing--just the moment of ecstasy, that flares and dies in minutes.
"So many things I had thought forgottenReturn to my mind with stranger pain:Like letters that arrive addressed to someoneWho left the house so many yea...
"Uncontradicting solitudeSupports me on its giant palm;And like a sea-anemoneOr simple snail, there cautiouslyUnfolds, emerges, what I am.
"What are days for?Days are where we live. They come, they wake us Time and time over.They are to be happy in: Where can we live but days?Ah, solving t...
"Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:The sun-comprehending glass,And beyond it, the deep blue air, that showsNothing, and is nowhere, a...
"Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don't have any kids yourself.
"When I throw back my head and howlPeople (women mostly) sayBut you've always done what you want, You always get your way- A perfectly vile and foulInv...
"I feel the only thing you can do about life is to preserve it, by art if you're an artist, by children if you're not.