It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
Any general statement is like a check drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
General statements require substance to hold value, much like a check needs funds.
This quote by Ezra Pound emphasizes the idea that any assertion or claim made must be backed by meaningful content or evidence. Just as a check is worthless without sufficient funds in the bank, a general statement has no real value unless it is supported by facts, experiences, or insights that substantiate it.
Themes
StatementsValueSubstanceTruthEvidence
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about climate change, you might say, 'As Ezra Pound once said, any general statement is like a check drawn on a bank; we need data to support our claims.'
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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