It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.
Ezra PoundRead
No verse is libre for the man who wants to do a good job.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creating great work requires dedication and a sense of responsibility.
This quote by Ezra Pound emphasizes that true artistry and excellence come with commitment and the understanding that one must work diligently to achieve quality. It suggests that freedom in expression is constrained by the seriousness of the task at hand; the desire to do well imposes certain limitations and responsibilities on the creator.
Themes
ArtistryCommitmentResponsibilityExcellenceDedication
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a workshop on creative writing to emphasize the importance of discipline.
More from Ezra Pound
All quotes βThe ant's a centaur in his dragon world. Pull down thy vanity, it is not man Made courage, or made order, or made grace, Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down. Learn of the green world what can be thy place In scaled invention or true artistry, Pull down thy vanity, Paquin pull down! The green casque has outdone your elegance.
Ezra PoundRead
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and forever.
Ezra PoundRead
Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
Ezra PoundRead
In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.
Ezra PoundRead
The modern artist must live by craft and violence. His gods are violent gods. Those artists, so called, whose work does not show this strife, are uninteresting.
Ezra PoundRead
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Let thy step be slow and steady, that thou stumble not.
Ieyasu TokugawaRead
There are men who struggle for a day and they are good. There are men who struggle for a year and they are better. There are men who struggle many years, and they are better still. But there are those who struggle all their lives: These are the indispensable ones.
Bertolt BrechtRead
One of the hardest expressions of self-assertiveness is challenging your limiting beliefs.
Nathaniel BrandenRead
Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually: 'The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me and I in Him.'
Saint Francis De SalesRead
Honest error is to be pitied not ridiculed.
Lord ChesterfieldRead
Sometimes during solitude I hear truth spoken with clarity and freshness; uncolored and untranslated it speaks from within myself in a language original but inarticulate, heard only with the soul, and I realize I brought it with me, was never taught it nor can I efficiently teach it to another.
Hugh B. BrownRead