Quotes from Ezra Pound

Poetry is a sort of inspired mathematics, which gives us equations, not for abstract figures, triangles, squares, and the like, but for the human emotions. If one has a mind which inclines to magic rather than science, one will prefer to speak of these equations as spells or incantations; it sounds more arcane, mysterious, recondite.

Rhythm must have meaning.

What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee What thou lov'st well is thy true heritage

With one day's reading a man may have the key in his hands.

This is no book. Whoever touches this touches a man.

Glance is the enemy of vision.

A real building is one on which the eye can light and stay lit.

The temple is holy because it is not for sale

I have tried to write Paradise Do not move Let the wind speak that is paradise. Let the Gods forgive what I have made Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.

It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.

The sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension.

The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation.

When words cease to cling close to things, kingdoms fall, empires wane and diminish.

Good art however "immoral" is wholly a thing of virtue. Good art can not be immoral. By good art I mean art that bears true witness, I mean the art that is most precise.

The serious artist must be as open as nature. Nature does not give all of herself in a paragraph. She is rugged and not set apart into discreet categories.

And the good writer chooses his words for their 'meaning', but that meaning is not a a set, cut-off thing like the move of knight or pawn on a chess-board. It comes up with roots, with associations, with how and where the word is familiarly used, or where it has been used brilliantly or memorably.

M'amour, m'amour what do I love and where are you? That I lost my center fighting the world The Dreams clash and are shattered- and that I tried to make a paradiso terrestre. I have tried to write Paradise Do not move Let the wind speak that is paradise Let the Gods forgive what I have made Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.

Nothing written for pay is worth printing. Only what has been written against the market.

Somebody said that I am the last American living the tragedy of Europe.

I could I trust starve like a gentleman. It's listed as part of the poetic training, you know.

And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban night is like the night there... Squares after squares of flame, set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will.

The eyes of this dead lady speak to me For here was love, was not to be drowned out. And here desire, not to be kissed away. The eyes of this dead lady speak to me.

I have tried to write Paradise Do not move Let the wind speak that is paradise. Let the Gods forgive what I have made Let those I love try to forgive what I have made.

Man is an over-complicated organism. If he is doomed to extinction he will die out for want of simplicity.