To regard the imagination as metaphysics is to think of it as part of life, and to think of it as part of life is to realize the extent of artifice. We live in the mind.

Quote by Wallace Stevens

Topics: Wallace Stevens Quotes

The fire burns as the novel taught it how.

The fire burns as the novel taught it how.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.

The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream.

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...

What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on...

What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on...

Money is a kind of poetry.

Money is a kind of poetry.

One's ignorance is one's chief asset.

One's ignorance is one's chief asset.

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.

If poetry should address itself to the same needs and aspirations, the same hopes and...

If poetry should address itself to the same needs and aspirations, the same hopes and...

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

The reason can give nothing at all Like the response to desire.

The reason can give nothing at all Like the response to desire.

Death is the mother of Beauty; hence from her, alone, shall come fulfillment to our...

Death is the mother of Beauty; hence from her, alone, shall come fulfillment to our...

Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.

Perhaps it is of more value to infuriate philosophers than to go along with them.

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...

Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.

Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.

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.

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...

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.

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...

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a...

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a...

Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.

Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.