It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the tendency to believe that any action, even if misguided, is better than inaction.
Ezra Pound's quote critiques a common mindset where individuals and societies impulsively seek improvement through immediate actions, often without thoughtful consideration or planning. This behavior can stem from a fear of stagnation, leading to decisions driven by urgency rather than strategy, suggesting that sometimes taking no action is more prudent than jumping to conclusions or acting rashly.
Themes
ActionInactionImprovementDecision MakingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a team meeting discussing ongoing projects, one could use this quote to point out the dangers of rushing decisions without proper analysis.
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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Proportion thy charity to the strength of thine estate, lest God proportion thine estate to the weakness of thy charity. Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking applause, thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a closed mouth.
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Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze.
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Children demand that their heroes should be freckle less, and easily believe them so: perhaps a first discovery to the contrary is less revolutionary shock to a passionate child than the threatened downfall of habitual beliefs which makes the world seem to totter for us in maturer life.
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