What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on the text and the disclosures of these meditations are no less a part of the structure of reality.

Quote by Wallace Stevens

Topics: Wallace Stevens Quotes

Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They...

Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They...

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

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...

New York is a field of tireless and antagonistic interests undoubtedly fascinating but horribly unreal....

New York is a field of tireless and antagonistic interests undoubtedly fascinating but horribly unreal....

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...

All history is modern history

All history is modern history

To regard the imagination as metaphysics is to think of it as part of life,...

To regard the imagination as metaphysics is to think of it as part of life,...

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

In the world of words, the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a...

The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a...

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.

One cannot spend one's time in being modern when there are so many more important...

One cannot spend one's time in being modern when there are so many more important...

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.

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...

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!

Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!

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...

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...

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.

Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would...

Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would...

Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans...

Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans...