A good poem brims with reflected beauty and even a bracing, beautiful ugliness. At the center of our lives, in the midst of the busyness and the forgetting, is a story that makes sense when everything extraneous has been taken away. -David Whyte Beauty
All of our great traditions, religious, contemplative and artistic, say that you must a learn how to be alone - and have a relationship with silence. It is difficult, but it can start with just the tiniest quiet moment. -David Whyte Relationship
By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry is just below the radar. -David Whyte Poetry
Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising. -David Whyte Poetry
Poetry carries the imagery which is large enough for the kind of life we want for ourselves. -David Whyte Poetry
It is the province of poetry to be more realistic and present than the artificial narratives of an outer discourse, and not afraid of the truthful difficulty of the average human life. -David Whyte Poetry
In Germany, they have great difficulty with anything that smacks of cultism or messianic leadership. You can't talk about leadership in its charismatic forms. -David Whyte Leadership
Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth. -David Whyte Relationship
Poetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. -David Whyte Poetry
Poetry gives us courage and sets us straight with the world. Poems are great companions and friends. -David Whyte Courage
Poetry gives us courage and sets us straight with the world. Poems are great companions and friends. -David Whyte Poetry
There's a fierce practicality and empiricism which the whole imaginative, lyrical aspect of poetry comes from. -David Whyte Poetry