Most modern reproducers of life, even including the camera, really repudiate it. We gulp down evil, choke at good.
Wallace StevensRead
Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Complexity adds depth to life, making it interesting and meaningful.
In this quote, Wallace Stevens suggests that the complexities of life and art are what give them their richness and vibrancy. Without challenges and intricacies, existence would lack the excitement and inspiration that provoke thought and creativity.
Themes
ComplexityLifePoetryMeaningArt
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the nuances of life during a motivational speech.
More from Wallace Stevens
All quotes βAfter one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Wallace StevensRead
Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Wallace StevensRead
LIGHT FROM WITHIN my friend, cancer got you damn it: you had it beat for seven years at least. how did it come back? Why all that pain. again. and you, such a fighter you fought me over and over with tears and words and promises. you fought for me with honesty and a light so bright it hurts my heart. sweet lorna. at peace now finally no more battles, just light from within a flickering candle in the dark burns with you.
Wallace StevensRead
Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.
Wallace StevensRead
Compare the silent rose of the sun And rain, the blood-rose living in its smell, With this paper, this dust. That states the point.
Wallace StevensRead
Similar quotes
One judge is coughing his life out into bloody handkerchiefs and the other is burying his wife, and you think this is how God answers your prayers?
Orson Scott CardRead
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
Thomas MertonRead
Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty. And you can't investigate up the chain of command, which is a huge impediment.
Jon KrakauerRead
After reaching 50, I began to wonder what the root of life is.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Our memory is made up of our individual memories and our collective memories. The two are intimately linked. And history is our collective memory. If our collective memory is taken from us - is rewritten - we lose the ability to sustain our true selves.
Haruki MurakamiRead
While one might laugh at the meaningless boredom of people a decade or two ago, the emptiness has for many now moved from the state of boredom to a state of futility and despair, which holds promise of dangers.
Rollo MayRead