Quotes About Interpretation

To summarize a poem or put it into prose is quite simply to misunderstand the essence of an art.

The attentive reading of a book is really a continuous commentary, a succession of notes that emanate from the inner voice.

Solo leemos verdaderamente a fondo lo que leemos por motivos personales. Puede ser que busquemos conseguir algún poder. Puede ser, simplemente, que odiemos al autor.

The poem: a prolonged hesitation between sound and sense.

A painter should not paint what he sees but what should be seen.

Filosofische posities krijgen hun ware objectiviteit alleen wanneer de lezer ze zich zelf toeëigent, wanneer hij ze voor eigen rekening zelf na-denkt, en zo de gedachten van anderen tot zijn eigen, opnieuw persoonlijke gedachten maakt.

And all else is literature.

l'histoire est connaissance mutilée. Un historien ne dit pas ce qu'a été..., mais ce qu'il est encore possible d'en savoir.

La connaissance historique est taillée sur le patron de documents mutilés.

Far from being opposed to the truth, fiction is only its by-product.

Anyone who interprets or defines your rights controls your destiny.

Reading music is like listening to flowers. I don't understand the concept.

My friend Harry just sent me a toilet seat for my birthday. I am not sure what he is trying to tell me!

Words are nets through which all truth escapes ("News From The World")

Because that's what fantasy is, isn't it?" he demanded. "Not just making things up, but taking ideas and giving them hands and feet and claws and teeth!

Men hear what they like and invent the rest.

Don't tell readers what to think. Let the action speak for itself.

It was possible that all men were difficult to read, but I had to live with Jock through every long

Finnegans Wake, several

Obviously he'd seen my own failings in the pages, though I'd only meant to show him how clever my dialogue was, and how gaspingly well I'd described the sea.

The problem with cats is that they get the exact same look on their face whether they see a moth or an axe-murderer.

The problem with cats is that they get the same exact look whether they see a moth or an ax-murderer.

History, of course, is never real. People either glorify it or horrify it. Or at the very least color it.

I told you but you didn't hear me. You hear what you want.