nothing is quite as easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time -and whenever we do it, we are not poets.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Relying on cliches and borrowed language makes thinking effortless but uncreative.
- In plain terms
- Using familiar phrases is easy but stops you from being original.
- What can you take from it?
- Avoid cliches to think more deeply.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When do you default to cliches?
- How can you express common ideas freshly?
Another view
Some situations require standard language for clarity.
More from E. E. Cummings
Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel : the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself. To …
Permalink to quote #85 my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do something easy, like learning how to blow up the world -unless you're not only willing, but glad,…
Permalink to quote #87 The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
Permalink to quote #88
Related quotes
The finest minds seem to be formed rather by efforts at original thinking, by endeavours to form new combinations, and to discover new truths, than by passivel…
Thomas MalthusThomas Malthus quote #7 Ordinary language blinkers the already feeble imagination. --Austin, Papers 68.
J. L. AustinJ. L. Austin quote #7 It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.
Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson quote #16