Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They wade through it the way a boy wades through water, feeling with his toes for the bottom: The echoes are the bottom.

Quote by Wallace Stevens

Topics: Wallace Stevens Quotes

Reality is not what it is. It consists of the many realities which it can...

Reality is not what it is. It consists of the many realities which it can...

Intolerance respecting other people's religion is toleration itself in comparison with intolerance respecting other people's...

Intolerance respecting other people's religion is toleration itself in comparison with intolerance respecting other people's...

Thought is an infection. In the case of certain thoughts, it becomes an epidemic.

Thought is an infection. In the case of certain thoughts, it becomes an epidemic.

A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.

A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.

It can never be satisfied, the mind, never.

It can never be satisfied, the mind, never.

Beauty is momentary in the mind The fitful tracing of a portal; But in the...

Beauty is momentary in the mind The fitful tracing of a portal; But in the...

If some really acute observer made as much of egotism as Freud has made of...

If some really acute observer made as much of egotism as Freud has made of...

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

As life grows more terrible, its literature grows more terrible.

As life grows more terrible, its literature grows more terrible.

We say God and the imagination are one... How high that highest candle lights the...

We say God and the imagination are one... How high that highest candle lights the...

The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.

The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.

Our bloom is gone. We are the fruit thereof.

Our bloom is gone. We are the fruit thereof.

A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does...

A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does...

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections, Or the beauty of...

I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections, Or the beauty of...

The poet is the priest of the invisible.

The poet is the priest of the invisible.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.

The fire burns as the novel taught it how.

The fire burns as the novel taught it how.

Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.

Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.

After the final no there comes a yes and on that yes the future of...

After the final no there comes a yes and on that yes the future of...