Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
John KeatsRead
Knowledge enormous makes a God of me._x000D_ _x000D_ Names, deeds, gray legends, dire events, rebellions,_x000D_ _x000D_ Majesties, sovran voices, agonies,_x000D_ _x000D_ Creations and destroyings, all at once_x000D_ _x000D_ Pour into the wide hollows of my brain,_x000D_ _x000D_ And deify me, as if some blithe wine_x000D_ _x000D_ Or bright elixir peerless I had drunk,_x000D_ _x000D_ And so become immortal.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge empowers and elevates one's existence, often leading to a feeling of immortality.
In this quote, John Keats reflects on the transformative power of knowledge, suggesting that the acquisition of vast wisdom can elevate an individual to a god-like status. He conveys that as one accumulates understanding of history, legend, and human experience, it enriches the mind and creates a sense of immortality, akin to drinking a magical elixir that enhances one's essence.
Themes
KnowledgeWisdomImmortalityPowerEnlightenment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of lifelong learning.
More from John Keats
All quotes →Are there not thousands in the world who love their fellows even to the death, who feel the giant agony of the world, and more, like slaves to poor humanity, labor for mortal good?
John KeatsRead
Ask yourself my love whether you are not very cruel to have so entrammelled me, so destroyed my freedom. Will you confess this in the Letter you must write immediately, and do all you can to console me in it — make it rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me —write the softest words and kiss them that I may at least touch my lips where yours have been. For myself I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form: I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair.
John KeatsRead
Faded the flower and all its budded charms,Faded the sight of beauty from my eyes,Faded the shape of beauty from my arms,Faded the voice, warmth, whiteness, paradise!Vanishd unseasonably
John KeatsRead
I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters.
John KeatsRead
...I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become more acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea and comfortable advice.
John KeatsRead
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