If a poet interprets a poem of his own he limits its suggestibility.
William Butler YeatsRead
I heard the old, old, men say 'all that's beautiful drifts away, like the waters.'
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty is transient and ephemeral, much like water that flows and eventually disappears.
This quote by William Butler Yeats reflects on the nature of beauty and its impermanence. The metaphor of water suggests that just as rivers and streams flow away, so too do moments of beauty and joy in life. It serves as a reminder to appreciate beauty while it lasts, acknowledging that it is fleeting and will eventually drift away.
Themes
BeautyImpermanenceTransienceLifeAppreciation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for a graduation speech, reminding graduates to cherish their experiences.
More from William Butler Yeats
All quotes →It 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
Perhaps the whisper was born before lips, And the leaves in treelessness circled and flew, And those, to whom we impart our experience as bliss, Acquire their forms before we do
Osip MandelstamRead
To kill a man will be considered as disgusting [in the twentieth century] as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.
Andrew CarnegieRead
In so far as men are influenced by envy or any kind of hatred, one towards another, they are at variance, and are therefore to be feared in proportion, as they are more powerful than their fellows._x000D_ _x000D_ Yet minds are not conquered by force, but by love and high-mindedness.
Baruch SpinozaRead
Intellectually, human beings and animals may be different, but it's pretty obvious that animals have a rich emotional life and that they feel joy and pain. It's easy to forget the connection between a hamburger and the cow it came from. But I forced myself to acknowledge the fact that every time I ate a hamburger, a cow had ceased to breathe
MobyRead
Who knows their own story? It certainly makes no sense when you’re in the middle of it
Nick CaveRead
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. As long as you gotta sit-down philosophy, you’ll have a sit-down thought pattern, and as long as you think that old sit-down thought you’ll be in some kind of sit-down action.
Malcolm XRead