For people who love poetry, or for those just beginning to explore its best poetry quotes and depth of emotion, few things can compare with a well-crafted quote from a beloved poem.

Consider it the equivalent of experiencing a private moment between you and the poet: their words sinking deep into your consciousness, leaving you awe-struck by their unwavering eloquence.

If you’re looking to be inspired in all aspects of life through profound thoughts, here are some memorable quotes taken from some of the greatest poets throughout history that could provide an emotional spark.

1. “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” – William Wordsworth

2. “A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” – Robert Frost

3. “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” – Edgar Allan Poe

4. “Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement.” – Christopher Fry

5. “A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.” – W.H. Auden

6. “A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep.” – Salman Rushdie

7. “A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it.” – Dylan Thomas

8. “Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations.” – Lawrence Ferlinghetti

9. “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” – Robert Frost

10. “A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” – Paul Valéry