“The mind blanks at the glare.”

— Philip Larkin, "Aubade", st. 2, in The Times Literary Supplement (23 December 1977)

About Philip Larkin

1922 – 1985

English poet, author of "The Whitsun Weddings" and "High Windows".

“Perhaps being old is having lighted rooms inside your head, and having people in them, acting.”

“Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.”

“I never think of poetry or the poetry scene, only separate poems written by individuals.”

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

“Remember that all is opinion.”

“By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.”

“Thought is all light, and publishes itself to the universe.”

“Up! mind thine own aim, and God speed the mark!”

“The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.”