Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
It is never the thing but the version of the thing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our perception shapes our understanding of reality, not the reality itself.
This quote by Wallace Stevens suggests that the way we interpret or perceive things is more important than the actual things themselves. It emphasizes the subjective nature of reality, indicating that our individual perspectives define our experiences and truths, rather than an objective world that exists independently of our interpretations.
Themes
PerceptionRealitySubjectivityInterpretation
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of reality, this quote can illustrate how different perspectives shape our understanding.
More from Wallace Stevens
All quotes βMost modern reproducers of life, even including the camera, really repudiate it. We gulp down evil, choke at good.
Wallace StevensRead
After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Wallace StevensRead
Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
Wallace StevensRead
LIGHT FROM WITHIN my friend, cancer got you damn it: you had it beat for seven years at least. how did it come back? Why all that pain. again. and you, such a fighter you fought me over and over with tears and words and promises. you fought for me with honesty and a light so bright it hurts my heart. sweet lorna. at peace now finally no more battles, just light from within a flickering candle in the dark burns with you.
Wallace StevensRead
Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.
Wallace StevensRead
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I can't gather around and talk about how much everybody in the room doesn't believe in God. I just don't - I don't have the energy for that, and so I... Agnostic separates me from the conduct of atheists whether or not there is strong overlap between the two categories, and at the end of the day I'd rather not be any category at all.
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No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
The alchemists spent years in their laboratories, observing the fire that purified the metals. They spent so much time close to the fire that gradually they gave up the vanities of the world. They discovered that the purification of the metals had led to a purification of themselves.
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The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything. _x000D_ God is the ground, the substance, _x000D_ the teaching, the teacher, _x000D_ the purpose, and the reward for which every soul labors.
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With a lot of songs on this record, one verse doesn't relate to the next verse. I don't think that one day really relates to the next day in life.
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Since consciousness is the basis of all reality, any shift in consciousness changes every aspect of our reality. Reality is created by consciousness differentiating into cognition, moods, emotions, perceptions, behavior, speech, social interactions, environment, interaction with the forces of nature, and biology. As consciousness evolves, these different aspects of consciousness also change.
Deepak ChopraRead