If a poet interprets a poem of his own he limits its suggestibility.
William Butler YeatsRead
Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that while humans can represent or live by truth, they can never fully comprehend it.
William Butler Yeats expresses the idea that truth is an elusive concept that transcends human understanding. Although individuals can embody or reflect truth through their actions, beliefs, or art, the complete essence of truth remains beyond our grasp. This speaks to the limitations of human knowledge and the complexity of existence.
Themes
TruthKnowledgeUnderstandingHuman ExperienceExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of truth in a classroom.
More from William Butler Yeats
All quotes βIt was my first meeting with a philosophy that confirmed my vague speculations and seemed at once logical and boundless.
William Butler YeatsRead
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
William Butler YeatsRead
How far away the stars seem, and how far is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.
William Butler YeatsRead
For he would be thinking of love Till the stars had run away And the shadows eaten the moon.
William Butler YeatsRead
Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action, for we would not change that which we love.
William Butler YeatsRead
Similar quotes
Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.
Henry AdamsRead
What is the fatal charm of Italy? What do we find there that can be found nowhere else? I believe it is a certain permission to be human, which other places, other countries, lost long ago.
Erica JongRead
To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.
Ivan TurgenevRead
When you are not the doer how can the attachment happen? You do a small thing and you become attached. You say, "I have done this." You would like everybody to know that you have done this and you have done that. This ego is the barrier for the supreme understanding. Drop the doer and let things happen. That's what Tilopa means by being loose and natural.
RajneeshRead
We are living in the era of premeditation and the perfect crime. Our criminals are no longer helpless children who could plead love as their excuse. On the contrary, they are adults and the have the perfect alibi: philosophy, which can be used for any purpose - even for transforming murderers into judges.
Albert CamusRead
The bourgeois novel is the greatest enemy of truth and honesty that was ever invented. It's a vast, sentimentalizing structure that reassures the reader, and at every point, offers the comfort of secure moral frameworks and recognizable characters.
J. G. BallardRead