Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.
Wallace StevensRead
The reason can give nothing at all Like the response to desire.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the limitations of reason compared to the power of desire.
Wallace Stevens highlights the idea that reason, while important, cannot fulfill human needs or desires in the same way that the pursuit of those desires can. It suggests that the emotional and instinctual drives inherent in human beings outweigh purely logical reasoning, as desire propels us toward deeper fulfillment than reason alone can provide.
Themes
ReasonDesirePhilosophyHuman NatureEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the role of emotions in decision-making, you might quote this to stress the importance of desire.
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.
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After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
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Why should she give her bounty to the dead? What is divinity if it can come Only in silent shadows and in dreams?
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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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