Quotes About Meaning

Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that we can't imagine ourselves living without.

If we ask a vague question, such as, 'What is poetry?' we expect a vague answer, such as, 'Poetry is the music of words ' or 'Poetry is the linguistic correction of disorder.'

I think the names of colors are at the edge, between where language fails and where it's at its most powerful.

So what do you think it's all about? Life, I mean." [...] "To work hard", she said, "and to love someone". Then she paused. "And to have some fun", she added. "And if you're lucky, you keep your health...and somebody loves you back".

Trojan is giving away Magnum large condoms (do you think they were named after a large wooden animal inside which thousands of little men were hiding, ready to jump out and ruin your life?)

Gobbledygook could be a word invented by God to describe speaking in tongues.

more often than not, an exhibition is merely a misplaced object.

Pay attention to where you are going because without meaning you might get nowhere.

To the uneducated an A is just three sticks.

Well," said Owl, "the customary procedure in such cases is as follows." "What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?" said Pooh. "For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me.

What I say is that, if a fellow really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.

One of the difficulties of thinking clearly about anything is that it is almost impossible not to form our ideas in words which have some previous association for us; with the result that our thought is already shaped along certain lines before we have begun to follow it out. Again, a word may have various meanings, and our use of it in one sense may deceive our readers (or even ourselves) into supposing that we were using it in some other sense.

Nouns and verbs are the guts of the language. Beware of covering up with adjectives and adverbs.

Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out. Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.

History is not another name for the past, as many people imply. It is the name for stories about the past.

But does time honour things? Sabine would teach me to ask. How? Why? And if it does, ought it to go on doing so? And for how long?)

I allow myself eddies of meaning: yield to a direction of significance running like a stream through the geography of my work: you can find in my sayings swerves of action like the inlet's cutting edge: there are dunes of motion, organizations of grass, white sandy paths or remembrance in the overall wandering of mirroring mind: but Overall is beyond me — A.R. Ammons, from "Corsons Inlet," Collected Poems: 1951-1971 (W. W. Norton & Co., 1972)

Ne zaman ki dinledi?iniz ?ark?lar size onu hat?rlatmaz; i?te ancak o zaman hayattan bir tat alabilirsiniz .

?iir bir ?ey anlatmaz demek, anlam? yoktur, anlams?zd?r demek de?ildir. Anlamla yola ç?k?lmaz demektir." ?lhan Berk, 'Poetika', sayfa 61

A?k sözcü?ü yerini, anlam?n? dumura u?ratt?. S?radan bir sözcük gibi yerini her ?eye açt?. Tanr? gibi varolup da var olam?yor art?k. Hem a?k?n varl??? da çok su götürür. Gerçekte a?k yoktur: Var k?lmak istiyoruz. Bu hakk?m?z da. Ba?ka bir ?eyimiz yok çünkü.

Bir denizi, bir evi, bir a?ac? yok dü?ünebilir miyiz? ?iirin de böyle varolmas?. Bence ?iirin bu dedi?im yoldan varolmas?na en büyük engel anlamd?r. Nitekim denizin varolmas? da, onu d???m?zda dü?ünmekten vazgeçip, ya?am?m?za kar??t?rd???m?z zaman ba?lar. Bu çe?it varolmak onu anlamak istememizle ilgilidir

Dil, anlatma arac? oldu?u de?in tersini de içerir. Kendi d???nda hiçbir ?ey anlatmayabilir. ?öyle de söyleyebiliriz bunu: Anlam?n olmad??? yerde de i?levini sürdürür. ?iirde bu daha belirgindir." ?lhan Berk, 'Poetika', sayfa 11

?yi bir ?iir anlamla yola ç?kmaya her zaman engeldir. Her ?eyden önce bir ?iirden düzyaz?dan anlad???m?z anlamda bir anlam beklemek, ona öyle yakla?mak ?iirin do?as?na ayk?r?d?r." ?lhan Berk, 'Poetika', sayfa 55

Asl?nda anlam do?as? gere?i söyleyece?ini söyleyip hemen kapanmak ister. Belirsizlikten korkar. Yitip gidece?ini san?r. Belirsizlik, anlam yoksunlu?u de?ildir. Tam tersine 'çokanlaml?l?kt?r', s?n?rs?zl?kt?r. ?iir orda boy göstermek ister. Orda kendine gelir." ?lhan Berk, 'Poetika', sayfa 61