Knowledge is Limited

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." ~Albert Einstein

Book Quotes: Revolutionary Road

"I still had this idea that there was a whole world of marvelous golden people somewhere, as far ahead of me as the seniors at Rye when I was in the sixth grade; people who knew everything instinctively, who made their lives work out the way they wanted without even trying, who never had to make the best of a bad job because it never occured to them to do anything less then perfectly the first time. Sort of heroic super-people, all of them beautiful and witty and calm and kind, and I always imagined that when I did find them I'd suddenly know that I belonged among them, that I was one of them, that I'd been meant to be one of them all along, and everything in the meantime had been a mistake; and they'd know it too. I'd be like the ugly duckling among the swans."

The Ivy Crown

William Carlos Williams - The Ivy Crown

The whole process is a lie,

        unless,

            crowned by excess,

It break forcefully,

        one way or another,

            from its confinement—

or find a deeper well.

        Antony and Cleopatra

            were right;

they have shown

        the way. I love you

            or I do not live

at all.

Daffodil time

         is past. This is

              summer, summer!

the heart says,

         and not even the full of it.

              No doubts

are permitted—

         though they will come

              and may

before our time

         overwhelm us.

              We are only mortal

but being mortal

         can defy our fate.

              We may

by an outside chance

         even win! We do not

              look to see

jonquils and violets

         come again

              but there are,

still,

         the roses!

Romance has no part in it.

         The business of love is

              cruelty which,

by our wills,

         we transform

              to live together.

It has its seasons,

         for and against,

              whatever the heart

fumbles in the dark

         to assert

              toward the end of May.

Just as the nature of briars

         is to tear flesh,

              I have proceeded

through them.

         Keep

              the briars out,

they say.

         You cannot live

              and keep free of

briars.

Children pick flowers.

         Let them.

              Though having them

in hand

         they have no further use for them

              but leave them crumpled

at the curb's edge.

At our age the imagination

         across the sorry facts

              lifts us

to make roses

         stand before thorns.

              Sure

love is cruel

         and selfish

              and totally obtuse—

at least, blinded by the light,

         young love is.

              But we are older,

I to love

         and you to be loved,

              we have,

no matter how,

         by our wills survived

              to keep

the jeweled prize

         always

              at our finger tips.

We will it so

         and so it is

              past all accident.