It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
This is no book. Whoever touches this touches a man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the deep connection between literature and the human experience.
Ezra Pound's quote reflects the idea that literature is not merely a collection of written words; it is a dynamic and profound expression of human thoughts, emotions, and experiences. By interacting with a book, one engages with the author's insights and, consequently, with the essence of humanity itself. The act of reading transcends the physical object of the book, highlighting a relationship between the reader and the writer as they share a moment of understanding and empathy.
Themes
LiteratureHuman ExperienceReadingBooksArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a book club meeting to discuss the interactions between characters in a novel.
More from Ezra Pound
All quotes βThe ant's a centaur in his dragon world. Pull down thy vanity, it is not man Made courage, or made order, or made grace, Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down. Learn of the green world what can be thy place In scaled invention or true artistry, Pull down thy vanity, Paquin pull down! The green casque has outdone your elegance.
Ezra PoundRead
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever.
Ezra PoundRead
Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
Ezra PoundRead
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
Ezra PoundRead
The modern artist must live by craft and violence. His gods are violent gods. Those artists, so called, whose work does not show this strife, are uninteresting.
Ezra PoundRead
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Good taste is the enemy of creativity.
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Training readers to expect a voice or subject matter from me would interfere with the reinvention I crave. At the same time, I feel almost too able to disappear at times.
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I began taking liberties a long time ago; now it is standard practice for most directors to ignore the rules.
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Poetry is that art which selects and arranges the symbols of thought in such a manner as to excite the imagination the most powerfully and delightfully.
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