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Top 30 Gerald Stern Quotes (2025 Update)

Gerald Stern Quote: “Humor is not funny. Humor is something else. Funny is a joke, sometimes silly. Comedy is deep and connected to tragedy; comedy could be deeper than tragedy, in my view.”

1. “Humor is not funny. Humor is something else. Funny is a joke, sometimes silly. Comedy is deep and connected to tragedy; comedy could be deeper than tragedy, in my view.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I’ve been trying to come to terms with what I am and what I do and what I believe in. And I see that I’m not happy with – well, it’s almost as if being a poet is not enough for me. It’s too late for me to do more now. I did what I could in a small way. I did it as theater, too, to be honest.”

2. “I’ve been trying to come to terms with what I am and what I do and what I believe in. And I see that I’m not happy with – well, it’s almost as if being a poet is not enough for me. It’s too late for me to do more now. I did what I could in a small way. I did it as theater, too, to be honest.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “For the Christian mystics, detachment meant to leave attachment so that God could enter you and take over completely and you could climb the ladder to their heaven. Kind of crazy, but what the hell?”

3. “For the Christian mystics, detachment meant to leave attachment so that God could enter you and take over completely and you could climb the ladder to their heaven. Kind of crazy, but what the hell?”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Bruce Smith is a tender master of music, and beautiful lines, and complex thoughts, and fascinating wild personal and cultural references.”

4. “Bruce Smith is a tender master of music, and beautiful lines, and complex thoughts, and fascinating wild personal and cultural references.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I was ruined before I got started. I say ruined, but I could say blessed; I was too far gone to believe in it. And I’m shocked how generation after generation repeats the behavior.”

5. “I was ruined before I got started. I say ruined, but I could say blessed; I was too far gone to believe in it. And I’m shocked how generation after generation repeats the behavior.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “The cave is a dark, shadowy place. It’s a place that’s very close and yet distant at the same time, and it’s a place of revelation and isolation. Your form, your body, your writing is your confinement.”

6. “The cave is a dark, shadowy place. It’s a place that’s very close and yet distant at the same time, and it’s a place of revelation and isolation. Your form, your body, your writing is your confinement.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “It’s a kind of liberation to break free in language, if you can break free, but it’s also a confinement, because form confines you – whatever the form.”

7. “It’s a kind of liberation to break free in language, if you can break free, but it’s also a confinement, because form confines you – whatever the form.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “In America it’s a particular problem. The artist, particularly the poet, is just unacknowledged; if I can use that dumb word. Maybe it has always been that way. Maybe the only way he or she can be acknowledged is to be connected with some movement, be it religious or political.”

8. “In America it’s a particular problem. The artist, particularly the poet, is just unacknowledged; if I can use that dumb word. Maybe it has always been that way. Maybe the only way he or she can be acknowledged is to be connected with some movement, be it religious or political.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “If the Buddhist’s job is to be detached, I think that the artist’s job is to be both detached and attached.”

9. “If the Buddhist’s job is to be detached, I think that the artist’s job is to be both detached and attached.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Oppressed persons, oppressed cultures, tend to be more political, obviously, as are those with a rage for justice, or the crazy messianic desire.”

10. “Oppressed persons, oppressed cultures, tend to be more political, obviously, as are those with a rage for justice, or the crazy messianic desire.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Maybe being an artist is a kind of detachment. You’re in the cave, you’re isolated, you’re apart from everything and it’s there you can find out what you believe in, or what is – what is the nature of being, as you see it.”

11. “Maybe being an artist is a kind of detachment. You’re in the cave, you’re isolated, you’re apart from everything and it’s there you can find out what you believe in, or what is – what is the nature of being, as you see it.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Some poems are art because of their passion.”

12. “Some poems are art because of their passion.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Attachment has to do with suffering, so it’s really close to Buddhism, because Buddhism wants to relieve you from suffering; you’re supposed to escape from suffering.”

13. “Attachment has to do with suffering, so it’s really close to Buddhism, because Buddhism wants to relieve you from suffering; you’re supposed to escape from suffering.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “If you don’t have a bed, or a dresser or a wall, or a book or a toy you are oppressed. An African American in a white world. A Jew in a Christian world. A gypsy. A Native American. A Chinese American. Let’s say, you were born deprived.”

14. “If you don’t have a bed, or a dresser or a wall, or a book or a toy you are oppressed. An African American in a white world. A Jew in a Christian world. A gypsy. A Native American. A Chinese American. Let’s say, you were born deprived.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I have left out what I don’t remember or don’t know. Temperament, fear, shyness, obedience, kindness.”

15. “I have left out what I don’t remember or don’t know. Temperament, fear, shyness, obedience, kindness.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I will look at the footprints going in and out of the water and dream up a small blue good to talk to.”

16. “I will look at the footprints going in and out of the water and dream up a small blue good to talk to.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “The act of writing itself isn’t outrageous. And the institution subtly and insidiously works on you in such a way that though you seem to have freedom you become a servant. Your main issue is to get promoted to the next thing. Or get invited to a picnic. Or get tenure. Or get laid.”

17. “The act of writing itself isn’t outrageous. And the institution subtly and insidiously works on you in such a way that though you seem to have freedom you become a servant. Your main issue is to get promoted to the next thing. Or get invited to a picnic. Or get tenure. Or get laid.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “The artist looks for a subject. You know, a lot of new poets don’t seem to have a subject. I don’t totally understand that.”

18. “The artist looks for a subject. You know, a lot of new poets don’t seem to have a subject. I don’t totally understand that.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I feel that my job, as an artist, is to disturb the peace. And to disturb it intellectually, linguistically, politically and literally.”

19. “I feel that my job, as an artist, is to disturb the peace. And to disturb it intellectually, linguistically, politically and literally.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I’ve changed over my writing life. If I can generalize, I would say that the more recent poems – believe it or not – are more pointedly political; although, if the earlier poems were more existential, they were still political; though, in their own way, had a complicated presence.”

20. “I’ve changed over my writing life. If I can generalize, I would say that the more recent poems – believe it or not – are more pointedly political; although, if the earlier poems were more existential, they were still political; though, in their own way, had a complicated presence.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I’ve been active in a minor way compared to professional activists. I was a labor leader. I led two labor strikes. I’ve manipulated boards. I’ve led marches. I’ve done many things.”

21. “I’ve been active in a minor way compared to professional activists. I was a labor leader. I led two labor strikes. I’ve manipulated boards. I’ve led marches. I’ve done many things.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I’ve spent hundreds of hours working over words, and part of me, a large part of me, has a desire to do something else.”

22. “I’ve spent hundreds of hours working over words, and part of me, a large part of me, has a desire to do something else.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “I floundered in my twenties. Though I wore a long scarf. And when I got to be thirty I got a job at Temple University in Philadelphia. I worked there for seven years, and I finally got fired, mostly for political reasons.”

23. “I floundered in my twenties. Though I wore a long scarf. And when I got to be thirty I got a job at Temple University in Philadelphia. I worked there for seven years, and I finally got fired, mostly for political reasons.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Tolstoy is one of the greatest artists in history, but he finally became infused with the idea of the uselessness of art. He gave himself to his own kind of religion.”

24. “Tolstoy is one of the greatest artists in history, but he finally became infused with the idea of the uselessness of art. He gave himself to his own kind of religion.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Sometimes a person thinks he’s attached to one thing and he’s really attached to something else.”

25. “Sometimes a person thinks he’s attached to one thing and he’s really attached to something else.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Teaching poetry, teaching as such, is worthy – if back breaking...”

26. “Teaching poetry, teaching as such, is worthy – if back breaking...”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “It’s just that very few poets disturb the peace to any degree.”

27. “It’s just that very few poets disturb the peace to any degree.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Oppressed cultures often envy those which are not, or oppressed individuals do, and sometimes those which – and who – are not envy those which – who – are.”

28. “Oppressed cultures often envy those which are not, or oppressed individuals do, and sometimes those which – and who – are not envy those which – who – are.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “There are hundreds of prisons – sexual, political, cultural. But being a prisoner also gives you impetus.”

29. “There are hundreds of prisons – sexual, political, cultural. But being a prisoner also gives you impetus.”

— Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern Quote: “Political means so many things. We are political willy-nilly. Political poetry is an easy invitation to disaster. But then so is love poetry. But we are a little more patient with bad love poetry.”

30. “Political means so many things. We are political willy-nilly. Political poetry is an easy invitation to disaster. But then so is love poetry. But we are a little more patient with bad love poetry.”

— Gerald Stern

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