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
It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups.
Henry A. WallaceRead
Argue with anything else, but don't argue with your own nature.
Philip PullmanRead
It could be ventured to understand obsessive compulsive neurosis as the pathological counterpart of religious development, to define neurosis as an individual religiosity; to define religion as a universal obsessive compulsive neurosis.
Sigmund FreudRead
Very few people really care about freedom, about liberty, about the truth, very few. Very few people have guts, the kind of guts on which a real democracy has to depend. Without people with that sort of guts a free society dies or cannot be born.
Doris LessingRead
Expectations are a form of first-class truth: If people believe it, it's true.
Bill GatesRead
The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury... Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree-a matter profoundly important to him.
Charles Alexander EastmanRead