Quote#World
I heard the old, old men say
Quote byWilliam Butler Yeats · 1865–1939
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: In The Seven Woods (1904), The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water.
English (original)
I heard the old, old men say, 'Everything alters, And one by one we drop away.' They had hands like claws, and their knees Were twisted like the old thorn-trees By the waters. I heard the old, old men say, 'All that's beautiful drifts away Like the waters.'
— William Butler Yeats
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