I'd rather have two good friends, than 500,000 admirers.
E. E. CummingsRead
i shall imagine life is not worth dying,if (and when)roses complain their beauties are in vain but though mankind persuades itself that every weed's a rose,roses(you feel certain)will only smile
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that life holds value despite struggles, and true beauty remains genuine and unaffected by false perceptions.
E. E. Cummings reflects on the complexity of life, indicating that even when faced with challenges or complaints, one should recognize the intrinsic worth of existence. The imagery of roses represents genuine beauty, contrasting with the idea that people might misinterpret or dilute this beauty by equating it with lesser things (weeds). Ultimately, true beauty endures and remains 'smiling' regardless of outside perceptions or comparisons.
Themes
LifeBeautyPerceptionStruggleValue
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a motivational speech about life's worth.
More from E. E. Cummings
All quotes βI'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
E. E. CummingsRead
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E. E. CummingsRead
When god decided to invent everything he took one reath bigger than a circustent and everything began
E. E. CummingsRead
The Artist is no other than he who unlearns what he has learned, in order to know himself.
E. E. CummingsRead
Nobody else can be alive for you; nor can you be alive for anybody else.
E. E. CummingsRead
Similar quotes
Power was my weakness and my temptation.
J. K. RowlingRead
Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
William Butler YeatsRead
Yes, all fundamentalists feel that in a secular society, God has been relegated to the margin, to the periphery and they are all in different ways seeking to drag him out of that peripheral position, back to center stage.
Karen ArmstrongRead
Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
The short conversation that follows eventually led to a tree religion. Its tenet of faith was this: a tree that was a good tree and led a clean decent and upstanding life could be assured of a future life after death. If it was very good indeed it would eventually be reincarnated as five thousand rolls of lavatory paper.
Terry PratchettRead
"What would you do with the lazy ones, who would not work?" "No one is lazy. They grow hopeless from the misery of their present existence, and give up. Under our order of things, every man would do the work he liked, and would have as much as his neighbor, so could not be unhappy and discouraged."
Emma GoldmanRead