Quotes from Edgar Allan Poe

Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man.

I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life - except in hope, which is by no means bankable.

In the Heaven's above, the angels, whispering to one another, can find, among their burning terms of love, none so devotional as that of 'Mother.

Imperceptibly the love of these discords grew upon me as my love of music grew stronger.

There is no passion in nature so demoniacally impatient, as that of him who, shuddering upon the edge of a precipice, thus meditates a Plunge.

The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of Artist

Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.

If a poem hasn't ripped apart your soul, you haven't experienced poetry.

Every poem should remind the reader that they are going to die.

Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.

To elevate the soul, poetry is necessary.

Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music, without the idea, is simply music; the idea, without the music, is prose, from its very definitiveness.

Blood was its Avatar and its seal.

All that we see and seem is but a dream within a dream.

With me poetry has not been a purpose but a passion.

I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.

The result of law inviolate is perfection–right–negative happiness. The result of law violate is imperfection, wrong, positive pain.

As an individual, I myself feel impelled to fancy ... a limitless succession of Universes.... Each exists, apart and independently, in the bosom of its proper and particular God.

Sensations are the great things, after all. Should you ever be drowned or hung, be sure and make a note of your sensations; they will be worth to you ten guineas a sheet.

To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.

It is a happiness to wonder; -- it is a happiness to dream.

Happiness is not to be found in knowledge, but in the acquisition of knowledge

If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.

False hope is nicer than no hope at all.