I had still the ambition, ...

I had still the ambition, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of Thoreau on Innisfree, a little island in Lough Gill, and when walking through Fleet Street very homesick I heard a little tinkle of water and saw a fountain in a shop window which balanced a little ball upon its jet, and began to remember lake water. From the sudden remembrance came my poem Innisfree.

I had still the ambition, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of Thoreau on Innisfree, a little island in Lough Gill, and when walking through Fleet Street very homesick I heard a little tinkle of water and saw a fountain in a shop window which balanced a little ball upon its jet, and began to remember lake water. From the sudden remembrance came my poem Innisfree.

William Butler Yeats

Quotes from the same author

There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.

William Butler Yeats

Think as a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.

William Butler Yeats

No man has ever lived that had enough of children's gratitude or woman's love.

William Butler Yeats

Out of Ireland have we come, great hatred, little room, maimed us at the start. I carry from my mother's womb a fanatic heart.

William Butler Yeats

I am of a healthy long lived race, and our minds improve with age.

William Butler Yeats