We live in our own world , A world that is too small For you to stoop and enter Even on hands and knees, The adult subterfuge.

- R. S. Thomas

Poetry is that / which arrives at the intellect / by way of the heart.

- R. S. Thomas

The meaning is in the waiting.

- R. S. Thomas

The silence holds with its gloved hand the wild hawk of the mind.

- R. S. Thomas

I am a man now. Pass your hand over my brow. You can feel the place where the brains grow.

- R. S. Thomas

I'm obviously not orthodox, I don't know how many real poets have ever been orthodox.

- R. S. Thomas

A recurring ideal, I find, is that of simplicity. At times there comes the desire to write with great precision and clarity, words so simple and movi…

- R. S. Thomas

The old men ask for more time; the young waste it. And the philosopher simply smiles, knowing there is none there.

- R. S. Thomas

Art is recuperation from time. I lie back convalescing upon the prospect of a harvest already at hand.

- R. S. Thomas