Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can't be used for manipulation; it's why you never see good poetry in advertising.
David WhyteRead
To seek out beauty in our work is to make a pilgrimage of our labors, to understand that the consummation of work lies not only in what we have done, but who we have become while accomplishing the task.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that finding beauty in our work transforms our efforts into a meaningful journey rather than just a completion of tasks.
David Whyte emphasizes that the true value of our work extends beyond the final outcome; it encompasses the growth and development we experience as individuals during the process. When we seek beauty in our tasks, we engage in a deeper, more reflective journey of self-discovery that enriches both our labor and our lives.
Themes
BeautyWorkJourneyGrowthLabor
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a team meeting to inspire colleagues about the deeper value of their contributions.
More from David Whyte
All quotes βPoetry is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn't know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future.
David WhyteRead
By definition, poetry works with qualities and dynamics that mainstream society is reluctant to face head-on. It's an interesting phenomenon that by necessity, poetry is just below the radar.
David WhyteRead
The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears
David WhyteRead
The severest test of work today, is not of our strategies, but of our imaginations and identities.
David WhyteRead
We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming, as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due.
David WhyteRead
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If you're going to be honest with yourself, you have to admit that you go into show business wanting people to talk about you and wanting everyone to know who you are. But that also means there are going to be a whole bunch of people who don't like you. No matter who you are.
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I've always felt that complement of opposites: body and soul, solitude and companionship, and in the dance studio, contraction and release, rise and fall.
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Paris was a universe whole and entire unto herself, hollowed and fashioned by history; so she seemed in this age of Napoleon III with her towering buildings, her massive cathedrals, her grand boulevards and ancient winding medieval streets - as vast and indestructible as nature itself.
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Writers in repressive societies are considered dangerous. That's why so many of them are in jail.
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I am interested in reconstructing symbols. It's about connecting with an older knowledge and trying to discover continuities in why we search for heaven.
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