Youth eats all the sugared fancy cakes and regards them as its daily bread. But there'll come a time when you'll start asking just for a crust.
Ivan TurgenevRead
A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A poet needs to understand the deeper emotions and reasons behind human experiences while only revealing the outward expressions of those feelings.
In this quote, Turgenev emphasizes the dual role of a poet as both an observer and a creator. A poet should delve into the psychological aspects of life and emotions, understanding the underlying roots of phenomena, yet their art should focus on presenting these insights in a way that captures their essence in a polished form. Essentially, the poet must internalize the complexities of human experience but translate them into something beautiful that resonates with others.
Themes
PoetPsychologyPhenomenaEmotionArt
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in an introduction at a poetry reading to highlight the depth of poetic expression.
More from Ivan Turgenev
All quotes →To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.
Ivan TurgenevRead
So many memories and so little worth remembering, and in front of me - a long, long road without a goal.
Ivan TurgenevRead
If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
Ivan TurgenevRead
Whereas I think: I’m lying here in a haystack... The tiny space I occupy is so infinitesimal in comparison with the rest of space, which I don’t occupy and which has no relation to me. And the period of time in which I’m fated to live is so insignificant beside the eternity in which I haven’t existed and won’t exist... And yet in this atom, this mathematical point, blood is circulating, a brain is working, desiring something... What chaos! What a farce!
Ivan TurgenevRead
Death's an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.
Ivan TurgenevRead
Similar quotes
Sound has spoiled the most ancient of the world's arts, the art of pantomime, and has canceled out the great beauty that is silence.
Charlie ChaplinRead
For me a stained glass window is a transparent partition between my heart and the heart of the world.
Marc ChagallRead
I like poems that are daggers that sing. I like poems that for all the power of the sentiments expressed, and all the power to upset and offend, are so well made that they’re achieved things. However much they upset you, they also affect you.
Frederick SeidelRead
Suffice to say that the theme (the WHAT of the movie) is going to determine the style (the HOW of the movie).
Sidney LumetRead
I think that cinema and the arts are central in our lives because we grow up and learn about the world through our exposure to stories. Parents use them as a tool to teach their children fundamental truths and values, much as adults can view them to gain exposure to cultures and individuals that they'd never be able to view in their own lives.
Forest WhitakerRead
A good picture book can almost be whistled. ... All have their own melodies behind the storytelling.
Margaret Wise BrownRead