We have become indifferent to content, and react, not even to form, but to technique, to technical efficiency itself.
Czeslaw MiloszRead
The purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is to remain just one person, for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, and invisible guests come in and out at will.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poetry reflects the complexity of identity and the influence of external forces on our lives.
Czeslaw Milosz's quote suggests that poetry serves as a reminder of the inherent challenges in maintaining a singular identity in a world where many influences and experiences continually shape us. The metaphor of a house without keys symbolizes the open nature of our selves, inviting external 'guests'—experiences, emotions, and thoughts—that affect our personal narratives and identities.
Themes
PoetryIdentityInfluenceSelfGuests
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about how literature reflects personal identity.
More from Czeslaw Milosz
All quotes →Love means to look at yourself_x000D_ The way one looks at distant things_x000D_ For you are only one thing among many.
Czeslaw MiloszRead
Do not feel safe. The poet remembers._x000D_ You can kill one, but another is born._x000D_ The words are written down, the deed, the date.
Czeslaw MiloszRead
The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.
Czeslaw MiloszRead
I imagine the earth when I am no more: Women's dresses, dewy lilacs, a song in the valley. Yet the books will be there on the shelves, well born, Derived from people, but also from radiance, heights.
Czeslaw MiloszRead
Yet falling in love is not the same as being able to love.
Czeslaw MiloszRead
Similar quotes
Whatever one wishes to say, there is one noun only by which to express it, one verb only to give it life, one adjective only which will describe it. One must search until one has discovered them, this noun, this verb, this adjective, and never rest content with approximations, never resort to trickery, however happy, or to vulgarism, in order to dodge the difficulty.
Guy De MaupassantRead
We all steal, but if we're smart we steal from great directors. Then, we can call it influence.
Krzysztof KieslowskiRead
The difference between architecture and building is that the former expresses an idea, while the latter is merely a structure built on economical principles. The value of matter depends solely on its capacities of expressing ideas.
Swami VivekanandaRead
The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic.
Gottfried LeibnizRead
I think the trouble with artists or chefs who whine about criticism is that if you love the good reviews, you have to at least read the bad ones.
Jim HarrisonRead
I am very happy to design haute couture. It's a love story between couture and me.
Yves Saint LaurentRead