Carl Sandburg Quotes & Carl Sandburg Sayings

Money is power, freedom, a cushion, the root of all evil, the sum of blessings. "Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky -- or the answer is wrong and you have to start over and try again and see how it comes out this time." A baby is God's opinion that life should go on. A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. A book is never a masterpiece: it becomes one. Genius is the talent of a dead man. A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake. A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected. All human actions are equivalent... and all are on principle doomed to failure. All politicians should have 3 hats -- one to throw into the ring, one to talk through, and one to pull rabbits out of if elected. And how should a beautiful, ignorant stream of water know it heads for an early release - out across the desert, running toward the Gulf, below sea level, to murmur its lullaby, and see the Imperial Valley rise out of burning sand with cotton blossoms, wheat, watermelons, roses, how should it know? Anger is the most impotent of passions. It effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed. Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky - or the answer is wrong and you have to start over and try again and see how it comes out this time. Here is the difference between Dante, Milton, and me. They wrote about hell and never saw the place. I wrote about Chicago after looking the town over for years and years. I have always felt that a woman has the right to treat the subject of her age with ambiguity until, perhaps, she passes into the realm of over ninety. Then it is better she be candid with herself and with the world. I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it. I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and women of will and vision. I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes, so live not in your yesterdays, no just for tomorrow, but in the here and now. Keep moving and forget the post mortems; and remember, no one can get the jump on the future. I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth. I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth and never cherishes any memory except the face of the woman on the American silver dollar I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth. I'll die propped up in bed trying to do a poem about America. I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way. I've written some poetry I don't understand myself. In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning. Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by. Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me. Nothing happens unless first a dream. Nothing happens unless first we dream. One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child. Our lives are like a candle in the wind. Poetry is a packsack of invisible keepsakes. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits. Sandburg's retelling of Lincoln's attendance at an evangelist rally led by Peter Cartwright in 1846, in response to accusations by Cartwright's followers that he was an "infidel" - Cartwright was his opponent in his race for Congress: Shame is the feeling you have when you agree with the woman who loves you that you are the man she thinks you are. Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work. Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work Slang is the language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands - and goes to work. Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come. Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come. Strange things blow in through my window on the wings of the night wind and I don't worry about my destiny. The deepest American dream is not the hunger for money or fame; it is the dream of settling down, in peace and freedom and cooperation, in the promised land. The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. The fog comes/ on little cat feet./ It sits looking over/ harbor and city/ on silent haunches/ and then moves on. The greatest cunning is to have none at all The marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading "Keep Off." The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to. The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. To work hard, to live hard, to die hard, and then go to hell after all would be too damn hard Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure if they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes. When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along. Why is there always a secret singing when a lawyer cashes in? Why does a hearse horse snicker hauling a lawyer away?