It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Good writing requires clarity and precision in language.
In this quote, Ezra Pound emphasizes the importance of efficiency in writing, suggesting that effective writers prioritize accuracy and clarity of expression. This underlines the notion that the power of written words lies in their ability to convey thoughts vividly and straightforwardly, without unnecessary complexity or ambiguity.
Themes
WritingClarityEfficiencyLanguageAccuracy
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop to inspire participants to focus on clarity.
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.
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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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