Thom Gunn Quotes.

1. "Their relationship consisted In discussing if it existed."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

2. "It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined Half of the night with our old friend Who’d showed us in the end To a bed I reached in one drunk stride. Already I lay snug, And drowsy with the wine dozed on one side. I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug, Suddenly, from behind, In which the full lengths of our bodies pressed: Your instep to my heel, My shoulder-blades against your chest. It was not sex, but I could feel The whole strength of your body set, Or braced, to mine, And locking me to you As if we were still twenty-two When our grand passion had not yet Become familial. My quick sleep had deleted all Of intervening time and place. I only knew The stay of your secure firm dry embrace."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

3. "Deep feeling doesn't make for good poetry. A way with language would be a bit of help."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

4. "As humans we look at things and think about what we've looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

5. "At worse, one is in motion; and at best, Reaching no absolute, in which to rest, One is always nearer by not keeping still."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

6. "We control the content of our dreams."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

7. "The snail pushes through a green night, for the grass is heavy with water and meets over the bright path he makes, where rain has darkened the earth's dark. He moves in a wood of desire, pale antlers barely stirring as he hunts. I cannot tell what power is at work, drenched there with purpose, knowing nothing. What is a snail's fury? All I think is that if later I parted the blades above the tunnel and saw the thin trail of broken white across litter, I would never have imagined the slow passion to that deliberate progress."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

8. "A literary influence is never just a literary influence. It's also an influence in the way you see everything - in the way you feel your life."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

9. "I must count my writing as an essential part of the way in which I deal with life. I am however a rather derivative poet. I learn what I can from whom I can. I borrow heavily from my reading, because I take my reading seriously. It is part of my total experience and I base most of my poetry on my experience. I do not apologize for being derivative… It has not been of primary interest to develop a unique poetic personality, and I rejoice in Eliot’s lovely remark that art is the escape from personality."
- Quote by Thom Gunn

10. "As if hands were enough To hold an avalanche off."
- Thom Gunn, The Man With Night Sweats