The center does not hold...What is this complete quote, and who said it?

Question

The center does not hold...What is this complete quote, and who said it?

Answer 1

From  William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming" (1919)

Stanza 1:

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

THINGS FALL APART; THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD;

MERE ANARCHY IS LOOSED UPON THE WORLD,

THE BLOOD-DIMMED TIDE IS LOOSED,

AND EVERYWHERE THE CEREMONY OF

INNOCENCE IS DROWNED;  

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity [emphasis added].

Answer 2

it is from a poem called "The Second Coming" by WB (William Butler) Yeats. It just so happens, it's my favorite and I have it memorized. It's also hanging on my fridge. lol.  But here's the whole thing:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I think it's the best poem ever and quite chilling, as well.