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Stephen Vincent Benét Quotes (1898-1943)
Author, Writer, Poet
About Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét (22 July 1898 – 13 March 1943) was an American author, poet, short story writer and novelist.
Best Stephen Vincent Benét Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Stephen Vincent Benét quotes.
“If two New Hampshiremen aren't a match for the devil, we might as well give the country back to the Indians.”
“Perhaps 'tis not strictly in accordance with the evidence … but even the damned may salute the eloquence of Mr. Webster.”
“For all those beaten, for the broken heads,
The fosterless, the simple, the oppressed,
The ghosts in the burning city of our time… ”
The fosterless, the simple, the oppressed,
The ghosts in the burning city of our time… ”
“She stood there, and at once I knew
The bitter thing that I must do.
There could be no surrender now;
Though Sleep and Death were whispering low.”
The bitter thing that I must do.
There could be no surrender now;
Though Sleep and Death were whispering low.”
“I went north — I did not try to hide myself. When a god or a demon saw me, then I would die, but meanwhile I was no longer afraid. My hunger for knowledge burned in me — there was so much that I could not understand.”
“For the cold of the pistol-butt and the bullet's heat,
For the ropes that choke, the manacles that bind,
The huge voice, metal, that lies from a thousand tubes
And the stuttering machine-gun that answers all.”
For the ropes that choke, the manacles that bind,
The huge voice, metal, that lies from a thousand tubes
And the stuttering machine-gun that answers all.”
“'''When gods war with gods, they use weapons we do not know. It was fire falling out of the sky and a mist that poisoned. It was the time of the Great Burning and the Destruction. They ran about like ants in the streets of their city — poor gods, poor gods!”
“Never have I been so much alone — I tried to think of my knowledge, but it was a squirrel's heap of winter nuts. There was no strength in my knowledge any more and I felt small and naked as a new-hatched bird — alone upon the great river, the servant of the gods.”
Stephen Vincent Benét Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Stephen Vincent Benét quotes by topic.
Stephen Vincent Benét on American literature
“American muse, whose strong and diverse heart So many men have tried to understand But only made it smaller with their art, Because you are as various as your land.”
Stephen Vincent Benét on Heaven
“There was no pain when I awoke, No pain at all. Rest, like a goad, Spurred my eyes open — and light broke Upon them like a million swords: And she was there. There are no words.Heaven is for a moment's span. And ever.”
Stephen Vincent Benét on Moment
Stephen Vincent Benét on Potential
“But not the first Illusion, the new earth, The march upon the solitary fire, The casting of the dice of death and birth Against a giant, for a blind desire, The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried, The metal sleeping in the mountainside.”
Stephen Vincent Benét on Scimitar
Stephen Vincent Benét on Prayer
“Grant us a common faith that man shall know bread and peace—that he shall know justice and righteousness, freedom and security, an equal opportunity and an equal chance to do his best not only in our own lands, but throughout the world. And in that faith let us march toward the clean world our hands can make.”
Stephen Vincent Benét on Union (United States)
“It's a Story they tell in the border country, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire. Yes, Dan'l Webster's dead—or, at least, they buried him. But every time there's a thunderstorm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky. And they say that if you go to his grave and speak loud and clear, "Dan'l Webster—Dan'l Webster!" the ground'll begin to shiver and the trees begin to shake. And after a while you'll hear a deep voice saying, "Neighbor, how stands the Union?" Then you better answer the Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible, or he's liable to rear right out of the ground. At least, that's what I was told when I was a youngster.”
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What Stephen Vincent Benét Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Stephen Vincent Benét shared regarding contemporaries.
Stephen Vincent Benét on F. Scott Fitzgerald
“You can take off your hats now, gentlemen, and I think perhaps you had better. This is not a legend, this is a reputation — and seen in perspective, it may well be one of the most secure reputations of our time.”
Stephen Vincent Benét on Daniel Webster
“It's a story they tell in the border country, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire. Yes, Dan'l Webster's dead — or, at least, they buried him. But every time there's a thunderstorm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky. And they say that if you go to his grave and speak loud and clear, "Dan'l Webster — Dan'l Webster!" the ground'll begin to shiver and the trees begin to shake. And after a while you'll hear a deep voice saying, "Neighbor, how stands the Union?" Then you better answer the Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper-sheathed, one and indivisible, or he's liable to rear right out of the ground. At least, that's what I was told when I was a youngster.”
About Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét (22 July 1898 – 13 March 1943) was an American author, poet, short story writer and novelist.