Jordan Bates • • 3 min read
Mary Oliver’s Magnificent Short Guide to a Life of Wisdom

“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.”
— Mary Oliver, 1935—present
I love Mary Oliver.
She’s one of the most celebrated and widely read American poets, and with good reason.

Her words contain a certain simplicity, minimalism, and clarity of vision that we rarely find in our convoluted, hyperspeed world.
Her work hearkens back to the poetic prose of Thoreau, the poetry of Whitman, and the writings of British Romantics such as Wordsworth and Shelley.
There’s one poem of hers in particular—”Wild Geese,” from her book, Dream Work—that I deeply and truly adore.
I first discovered it written on a friend’s white board while I was living in South Korea, and it immediately called out to me, nourished me, and made me feel more comfortable being human.
I consider this poem to be a concise and profound roadmap to a life of wisdom. I’m happy to share it with all of you today. Take it in slowly and breathe a sigh of relief.
“Wild Geese”: Mary Oliver’s Roadmap to Wisdom
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
9 Beautiful Mary Oliver Quotes to Revitalize Your Soul
As a bonus, because Mary Oliver is just such a splendid writer, here are nine more of her most memorable and life-altering pieces of wisdom.