22+ William Empson Quotes On Education, Religion And Government

William Empson was an English poet, literary critic, and professor of English literature. He is best known for his book Seven Types of Ambiguity, which was published in 1930 and is considered a landmark in the field of literary criticism. He was also a poet, and his poetry was often complex and difficult to understand, but highly praised by critics. Following is our collection on famous quotes by William Empson on education, religion, government.

Top 10 William Empson Quotes

1. Life involves maintaining oneself between contradictions that can't be solved by analysis.
2. The machinations of ambiguity are among the very roots of poetry.
3. Twixt devil and deep sea, man hacks his caves; Birth, death; one, many; what is true, and seems; Earth's vast hot iron, cold space's empty waves.
4. Poetry contains nothing haphazard.
5. Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.
6. The difficult part of good temper consists in forbearance, and accommodation to the ill-humors of others.
7. Proust has listed a great many reasons why it is impossible to be happy, but, in the course of being happy, one finds it difficult to remember them.
8. Shall I make it clear, boys, for all to apprehend, Those that will not hear, boys, waiting for the end, Knowing it is near, boys, trying to pretend, Sitting in cold fear, boys, waiting for the end?
9. Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.
10. This world is good enough for me, if only I can be good enough for it.

William Empson Short Quotes

• The heart of standing is you cannot fly.
• You don't want madhouse and the whole thing there.
• Liberal hopefulness Regards death as a mere border to an improving picture.
• It seems unpleasantly refined to put things off till someone knows.
• All those large dreams by which men long live well Are magic-lanterned on the smoke of hell.

William Empson Famous Quotes And Sayings

Poets, on the face of it, have either got to be easier or to write their own notes; readers have either got to take more trouble over reading or cease to regard notes as pretentious and a sign of bad poetry — William Empson

I think many people (like myself) prefer to read poetry mixed with prose; it gives you more to go by; the conventions of poetry have been getting far off from normal life, so that to have a prose bridge makes reading poetry seem more natural. — William Empson

Buddhists and Christians contrive to agree about death Making death their ideal basis for different ideals. The Communists however disapprove of death Except when practical. — William Empson

Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end. What is there to be or do? What's become of me or you? Are we kind or are we true? Sitting two and two, boys, waiting for the end. — William Empson

I'm afraid I take ... this rather clinical view of love: it's saving you from madness. I'm not so enthusiastic as other poets have been. — William Empson

To produce pure proletarian art the artist must be at one with the worker; this is impossible, not for political reasons, but because the artist never is at one with any public. — William Empson

The central function of imaginative literature is to make you realize that other people act on moral convictions different from your own. — William Empson

Life Lessons by William Empson

1. William Empson's work emphasizes the importance of close reading and understanding the complexity of language, as well as the ambiguity of words and phrases.
2. He also encourages readers to look beyond the surface of a text and explore the underlying meanings and implications of its words and images.
3. Through his work, Empson reminds us that literature is often multi-layered and can be interpreted in many ways, depending on the reader's perspective.