All music is is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments.
Walt WhitmanRead
My words itch at your ears till you understand them
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of understanding the deeper meanings behind words.
Walt Whitman suggests that his words are not just for superficial listening; they are meant to provoke thought and deeper understanding. The imagery of words 'itching' at one's ears conveys a sense of urgency and insistence on the need for comprehension, as if the listener's awareness and insight are essential for truly grasping what is being communicated.
In practice
This quote can be cited during a lecture about the power of language in literature.
All music is is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments.
Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between people, and their beliefs - in religion, literature, colleges and schools- democracy in all public and private life.
In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.
A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
Now, dearest comrade, lift me to your face,_x000D_ _x000D_ We must separate awhileHere! take from my lips this kiss._x000D_ _x000D_ Whoever you are, I give it especially to you;_x000D_ _x000D_ So long!And I hope we shall meet again.
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.
The merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God's earth.
When we reach reflexively for something to dull an ache inside of us, in that very moment of reaching, we are hiding from our pain. We're storing it away. Tamping it down.
It is also true that the less competent a person is in a given domain, the more he will tend to overestimate his abilities. This often produces an ugly marriage of confidence and ignorance that is very difficult to correct for.
Every woman I had ever met who walked through the world appraised and classified by an extraordinary physicality had also received the keys to an unbearable solitude. It was the coefficient of their beauty, the price they had to pay.
God never witholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful -- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.
Dogmatism is the greatest of mental obstacles to human happiness.
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