I'd rather have two good friends, than 500,000 admirers.
Whatever's merely willful, and not miraculous (be never it so skilful) must wither fail and cease - but better than to grow beauty knows no.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that mere skill without true creativity or inspiration will ultimately fail. True beauty transcends the limits of skill and is miraculous.
E. E. Cummings emphasizes the importance of genuine creativity and inspiration over mere technical skill. He implies that while skill can produce results, it lacks the essence of true beauty, which arises from a deeper, almost miraculous source. This reflects the idea that the most profound artistic expressions come not just from talent, but from a heart and mind engaged in a genuine act of creation, leading to something beautiful and lasting.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared in an art class to inspire students about the importance of creativity.
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.
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
When god decided to invent everything he took one reath bigger than a circustent and everything began
The Artist is no other than he who unlearns what he has learned, in order to know himself.
Nobody else can be alive for you; nor can you be alive for anybody else.
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Throughout his work, Philip Levine's most powerful commitment has been to the failed and lost, the marginal, the unloved, the unwanted.
Forcing yourself to use restricted means is the sort of restraint that liberates invention. It obliges you to make a kind of progress that you can't even imagine in advance.
You don't write for success. That takes part of your attention away from the writing. If you're really doing it, that's all you're doing: writing.
I don't like to make strong statements. I want to write strong novels... I keep my deep, radical things for my novels.
The importance of poetry is not measured, finally, by what the poet says but by how he says it.