William Stafford Quotes

“When a goat likes a book, the whole book is gone,
and the meaning has to go find an author again.

- The Trouble With Reading”
― William Stafford

“Assurance"

You will never be alone, you hear so deep a sound when autumn comes. Yellow
pulls across the hills and thrums, or in the silence after lightning before it says its names-and then the clouds' wide-mouthed apologies. You were aimed from birth: you will never be alone. Rain will come, a gutter filled, an Amazon, long aisles-you never heard so deep a sound, moss on rock, and years. You turn your head- that's what the silence meant: you're not alone. The whole wide world pours down.”
― William Stafford

“They say that history is going on somewhere.
They say it won't stop. I have held
One picture still for a long time and waited.”
― William Stafford