QuoteProject
Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.
Wallace Stevens
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Challenging established thinkers can be more beneficial than simply agreeing with them.

Wallace Stevens suggests that provoking philosophical thought may lead to greater value than simply adhering to conventional wisdom. This statement implies that the act of questioning and challenging existing ideas fosters deeper understanding and innovation, encouraging an environment where new thoughts can emerge and flourish.

Themes

PhilosophyChallengeThoughtValueInnovation

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about philosophical ideas, this quote could be used to advocate for critical thinking.

More from Wallace Stevens

Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
Most 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

Similar quotes

If two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule earth’s grandest empire, the other to go and sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the post of ruler or the post of scavenger; for the joy of the angels lies only in obedience to God’s will, and with equal joy they would lift a Lazarus in his rags to Abraham’s bosom, or be a chariot of fire to carry an Elijah home.
John NewtonRead
It is not that the girl is unfit for everything, it is that she is not of this world.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, great as each may be, their highest comfort given to the sorrowful is a cordial introduction into another's woe. Sorrow's the great community in which all men born of woman are members at one time or another.
Sean O'CaseyRead
Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.
Alfred AdlerRead
Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word 'impossible' is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise.
Jules VerneRead
Nevertheless, the central affirmation of the Reformation stands: through no merit of ours, but by his mercy, WE HAVE BEEN RESTORED to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of his beloved Son. This is the Good News, the gospel of Grace
Brennan ManningRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.