Top 23 Quotes & Sayings by Richard Hugo

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American poet Richard Hugo.

Last updated on April 15, 2025.

Richard Hugo, born Richard Franklin Hogan, was an American poet. Although some critics regard Hugo as primarily a regionalist, his work resonates broadly across place and time. A portion of Hugo's work reflects the economic depression of the Northwestern United States, particularly Montana. Born in the White Center area of Seattle, Washington, he was raised by his mother's parents after his father left the family. In 1942 he legally changed his name to Richard Hugo, taking his stepfather's surname. He served in World War II as a bombardier in the Mediterranean. He left the service in 1945 after flying 35 combat missions and reaching the rank of first lieutenant. Hugo's experiences in the military are referenced in one of his books of poetry, Good Luck in Cracked Italian.

American - Poet | December 21, 1923 - October 22, 1982

Source: Wikipedia

I will garden on the double run, my rhythm obvious in the ringing rakes, and trust in fate to keep me poor and kind and work until my heart is short, then go out slowly with a feeble grin, my fingers flexing but my eyes gone gray from cramps and the lack of oxygen.

Richard Hugo

If you want to communicate, use the telephone

Richard Hugo

Scholars look for final truths they will never find. Creative writers concern themselves with possibilities that are always there to the receptive.

Richard Hugo

Never want to say anything so strongly that you give up the option of finding something better. If you have to say it, you will.

Richard Hugo

A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.

Richard Hugo

Think small.... If you can't think small, try philosophy or social criticism.

Richard Hugo

Say nothing and just make music and you'll find plenty to say.

Richard Hugo

...an imagined town is at least as real as an actual town. If it isn't, you may be in the wrong business. Our words come from obsessions we must submit to, whatever the social cost. It can be hard. It can be worse forty years from now if you feel you could have done it and didn't. It is narcissistic, vain, egotistical, unrealistic, selfish, and hateful to assume emotional ownership of a town or a word. It is also essential.

Richard Hugo

You owe reality nothing and the truth about your feelings everything.

Richard Hugo

In the world of imagination, all things belong.

Richard Hugo

Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone.

Richard Hugo

A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.

Richard Hugo

You are someone and you have a right to your life.

Richard Hugo

A poet is seldom hard up for advice. The worst part of it all is that sometimes the advice is coming from other poets, and they ought to know better.

Richard Hugo

Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work you do on one poem is put in on all poems. The hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will come. Get to work.

Richard Hugo

Don't write love poems when you're in love. Write them when you're not in love.

Richard Hugo

To write a poem you must have a streak of arrogance-- not in real life I hope. In real life try to be nice. It will save you a hell of a lot of trouble and give you more time to write.

Richard Hugo

Rub a half potato on your wart and wrap it in a damp cloth. Close your eyes and whirl three times and throw. Then bury rag and spud exactly where they fall.

Richard Hugo

Maximum sentence length: seventeen words. Minimum:one No semicolons. Semicolons indicate relationships that only idiots need defined by punctuation. Besides, they are ugly. Make sure each sentence is at least four words longer or shorter than the one before it.

Richard Hugo