None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself. The most accurate analysis by the rarest wisdom is yet insufficient, and the poet will instantly prove it false by setting aside its requisitions. It is indeed all that we do not know.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poetry can only be truly understood through its experience, not just through analysis or definitions.
This quote by Henry David Thoreau emphasizes that the essence of poetry cannot be captured solely by definitions or academic analysis. Instead, it is about the emotional and experiential nature of poetry, which transcends intellectual understanding. Thoreau suggests that poetry embodies the unknown and the ineffable aspects of human experience, highlighting a fundamental disconnect between analytical approaches and the intrinsic qualities of artistic expression.
Themes
PoetryDefinitionWisdomExperienceArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of art, this quote could remind us to value emotional experience over strict definitions.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes →Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling and spending their lives like servants.
Henry David ThoreauRead
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings. The reality will make any sincere record respectable.
Henry David ThoreauRead
As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.
Henry David ThoreauRead
That grand old poem called Winter
Henry David ThoreauRead
Similar quotes
Your acting will not be good until it is only yours. That's true of music, acting, anything creative. You work until finally nobody is acting like you.
Sanford MeisnerRead
All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles... unless they are made and painted from life, and there can be nothing... better than to follow nature.
CaravaggioRead
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection.
Oscar WildeRead
At one time, I was very angry. I even treated fashion like a kind of crusade: you were either with us or against us, that kind of feeling. Now I know we need ideas, not kicking down a door.
Vivienne WestwoodRead
I did not go into the film business to be symbolized as someone else's vision of me.
Sidney PoitierRead
There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.
MichelangeloRead