Stephen Crane Quotes

Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest of moments.

A man said to the universe: 'Sir, I exist!' 'However,' replied the universe. 'The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.

Every sin is the result of collaboration.

Perhaps an individual must consider his own death to be the final phenomenon of nature.

Truth ... Is a breath, a wind, A shadow, a phantom; Long have I pursued it, But never have I touched The hem of its garment.

The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.

Half of tradition is a lie.

But I like it Because it is bitter, And because it is my heart.

There is nothing- No life, No joy, No pain- There is nothing save opinion, And opinion be damned.

Mother, whose heart hung humble as a button the bright splendid shroud of your son, Do not weep. War is kind.

Think as I think," said a man, "or you are abominably wicked; you are a toad." And after I thought of it, I said, "I will, then, be a toad.

Everything is bicycle.

I saw a man pursuing the horizon

A little man said to the Universe. "Sir! I exist." The Universe replied: "That's fine." Just don't think it creates any obligation on my part.

When the prophet, a complacent fat man, Arrived at the mountain-top He cried: "Woe to my knowledge! I intended to see good white lands And bad black lands— But the scene is grey.

It was surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment.

And it was as if fate had betrayed the soldier. In death it exposed to his enemies that poverty which in life he had perhaps concealed from his friends.

The voice of God whispers in the heart So softly That the soul pauses, Making no noise, And strives for these melodies, Distant, sighing, like faintest breath, And all the being is still to hear.

He saw that it was an ironical thing for him to be running thus toward that which he had been at such pains to avoid.

A mysterious fraternity born out of smoke and danger of death.

If there is a witness to my little life,To my tiny throes and struggles,He sees a fool;And it is not fine for gods to menace fools.

It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.Because your lover threw wild hands toward the skyAnd the affrighted steed ran on alone,Do not weep.War is kind.

It perhaps might be said--if any one dared--that the most worthless literature of the world has been that which has been written by the men of one nation concerning the men of another.

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;Round and round they sped.I was disturbed at this;I accosted the man."It is futile," I said,"You can never-""You lie," he cried,And ran on.

A MAN FEARED A man feared that he might find an assassin; Another that he might find a victim. One was more wise than the other.

Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.

Tradition, thou art for suckling children, Thou art the enlivening milk for babes, But no meat for men is in thee.

A serious prophet upon predicting a flood should be the first man to climb a tree. This would demonstrate that he was indeed a seer.

He vaguely desired to walk around and around the body and stare; the impulse of the living to try to read in dead eyes the answer to the Question.

Doubtless there are other roads.

When it came night, the white waves paced to and fro in the moonlight, and the wind brought the sound of the great sea's voice to the men on shore, and they felt that they could then be interpreters.

Tell her this And more,— That the king of the seas Weeps too, old, helpless man. The bustling fates Heap his hands with corpses Until he stands like a child With surplus of toys.

Let me into the darkness again.

When the suicide arrived at the sky, the people there asked him: "Why?" He replied: "Because no one admired me.

The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.

In the swirling rain that came at dusk the broad avenue glistened with that deep bluish tint which is so widely condemned when it is put into pictures.

The man had arrived at that stage of drunkenness where affection is felt for the universe.

None of them knew the color of the sky.

Nevertheless, he had, on a certain star-lit evening, said wonderingly and quite reverently: "Deh moon looks like hell, don't it?

His face had been twisted into an expression of every agony he had imagined for his friend.

He did not consider public opinion to be accurate at long range.

Camp fires, like red, peculiar blossoms, dotted the night.

It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible.

The moon had been lighted and was hung in a treetop.

Every sin is the result of a colaboration

This poor gambler isn’t even a noun. He is kind of an adverb.

When the prophet, a complacent fat man, Arrived at the mountain-topHe cried: "Woe to my knowledge!I intended to see good white landsAnd bad black lands—But the scene is grey.

The maddened four men followed frantically, for it is better to be in the presence of the awful than only within hearing. ("The Black Dog")

Tell her thisAnd more, —That the king of the seasWeeps too, old, helpless man.The bustling fatesHeap his hands with corpsesUntil he stands like a childWith surplus of toys.