Youth eats all the sugared fancy cakes and regards them as its daily bread. But there'll come a time when you'll start asking just for a crust.
Ivan TurgenevRead
A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A poet needs to understand the deeper emotions and reasons behind human experiences while only revealing the outward expressions of those feelings.
In this quote, Turgenev emphasizes the dual role of a poet as both an observer and a creator. A poet should delve into the psychological aspects of life and emotions, understanding the underlying roots of phenomena, yet their art should focus on presenting these insights in a way that captures their essence in a polished form. Essentially, the poet must internalize the complexities of human experience but translate them into something beautiful that resonates with others.
Themes
PoetPsychologyPhenomenaEmotionArt
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in an introduction at a poetry reading to highlight the depth of poetic expression.
More from Ivan Turgenev
All quotes →To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.
Ivan TurgenevRead
So many memories and so little worth remembering, and in front of me - a long, long road without a goal.
Ivan TurgenevRead
If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
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Whereas I think: I’m lying here in a haystack... The tiny space I occupy is so infinitesimal in comparison with the rest of space, which I don’t occupy and which has no relation to me. And the period of time in which I’m fated to live is so insignificant beside the eternity in which I haven’t existed and won’t exist... And yet in this atom, this mathematical point, blood is circulating, a brain is working, desiring something... What chaos! What a farce!
Ivan TurgenevRead
Death's an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.
Ivan TurgenevRead
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