Sylvia Plath's most quoted lines
The top 3 according to 244 votes from people: I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am. · If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed. · The blood jet is poetry, there is no stopping it.. (Updated Jun 22, 2021.)
"I am, I am, I am", the hot bath that cures almost everything and "the blood jet is poetry": the most quoted lines of Sylvia Plath, from The Bell Jar, Ariel and her journals, each with its source.
Top 13
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1
I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am.
The Bell Jar (1963), ch. 20.
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2
If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed.
The Bell Jar (1963), ch. 5.
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3
The blood jet is poetry, there is no stopping it.
Poem "Kindness", in Ariel (1965).
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4
If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell.
The Bell Jar (1963), ch. 8.
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5
Out of the ash I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air.
Poem "Lady Lazarus", in Ariel (1965).
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6
There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.
The Bell Jar (1963), ch. 2.
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7
Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children.
Poem "The Munich Mannequins", in Ariel (1965).
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8
…I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.
The Bell Jar (1963), ch. 15.
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9
There ought, I thought, to be a ritual for being born twice — patched, retreaded and approved for the road.
The Bell Jar (1963), ch. 20.
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10
The abstract kills, the concrete saves.
Journals, 7 January 1959.
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11
I am made, crudely, for success.
Journals, 22 April 1958.
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12
Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously near to wanting nothing.
Draft of a letter to Richard Sassoon (December 1955).
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13
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again.
Poem "Mad Girl's Love Song" (1953).
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (1)
"I am, I am, I am" at the end of The Bell Jar is one of the most hopeful lines I've ever read. Glad it's number one.