Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
How full of trifles everything is! It is only one's thoughts that fill a room with something more than furniture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the importance of perception and thought in shaping our experiences of the world around us.
Wallace Stevens suggests that the physical objects in a room are merely trifles compared to the richness of our thoughts and ideas. It is our internal reflections that truly fill a space with meaning and depth, indicating that our mental landscape can significantly influence how we perceive and engage with our environment.
Themes
ThoughtsPerceptionRealityPhilosophyMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about creativity, one might use this quote to emphasize the power of thought.
More from Wallace Stevens
All quotes βMost modern reproducers of life, even including the camera, really repudiate it. We gulp down evil, choke at good.
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After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
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Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
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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
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