"Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for."
"The aim of poetry and the poet is finally to be of service, to ply the effort of the individual into the larger work of the community as a whole."
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More quotes by Seamus Heaney
"Believe that a further shore is reachable from here."
"Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained."
"Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done."
"I can't think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people's understanding of what's going on in the world."
"If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way."