I'd rather have two good friends, than 500,000 admirers.
in a middle of a room stands a suicide sniffing a Paper rose smiling to a self "somewhere it is Spring and sometimes people are in real:imagine somewhere real flowers,but I can't imagine real flowers for if I could,they would somehow not Be real" (so he smiles smiling)"but I will not everywhere be real to you in a moment" The is blond with small hands "& everything is easier than I had guessed everything would be;even remembering the way who looked at whom first,anyhow dancing
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the complexities of existence, touching on themes of perception and reality through the metaphor of a flower.
E. E. Cummings' quote navigates the delicate interplay between reality and imagination. The imagery of a 'suicide sniffing a paper rose' suggests a longing for authenticity amidst artificiality, where the speaker grapples with their inability to conceive of genuine beauty. Despite this, the quote conveys a sense of acceptance, hinting at the ease of navigating life's memories and moments, even if they are tinged with melancholy. The recurrent theme of smiling, even in the face of sorrow, underscores the resilience of the spirit and the importance of holding on to personal experiences, however fleeting.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could inspire a discussion on the nature of reality versus imagination in a philosophy class.
More from E. E. Cummings
All quotes →I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
When god decided to invent everything he took one reath bigger than a circustent and everything began
The Artist is no other than he who unlearns what he has learned, in order to know himself.
Nobody else can be alive for you; nor can you be alive for anybody else.
Similar quotes
In real life we don't know what's going to happen next. So how can you be that way on a stage? Being alive to the possibility of not knowing exactly how everything is going to happen next - if you can find places to have that happen onstage, it can resonate with an experience of living.
Because in a split second, it's gone.
She felt so old, so worn out, so far away from the best moments of her life that she even yearned for those that she remembered as the worst… Her heart of compressed ash, which had resisted the most telling blows of daily reality without strain, fell apart with the first waves of nostalgia. The need to feel sad was becoming a vice as the years eroded her. She became human in her solitude.
She is a water bug on the surface of life.
If I had been born in the circus, my parents would have pushed me on that little high wire at four years old. That's when the body is most limber to learn those acrobatics.
I have had my dance with Folly, nor do I shirk the blame; I have sipped the so-called Wine of Life and paid the price of shame; But I know that I shall find surcease, the rest my spirit craves, Where the rainbows play in the flying spray, 'Mid the keen salt kiss of the waves.