Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance... poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.

— Ezra Pound

Music rots when it gets too far from the dance. Poetry atrophies when it gets too far from music.

— Ezra Pound

No man understands a deep book until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents.

— Ezra Pound

No one knows, at sight a masterpiece. And give up verse, my boy, There's nothing in it.Likewise, a friend of Brougham's once advised me:Don't kick against the pricks, Accept opinion. The Nineties tried your game And died, there's nothing in it.

— Ezra Pound

Properly we should read for power. Man reading should be manned intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.

— Ezra Pound

Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be manned intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.

— Ezra Pound

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.

— Ezra Pound

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing. The rest is mere sheep herding.

— Ezra Pound

Speak against unconscious oppression, Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative, Speak against bonds.

— Ezra Pound

The artist is always beginning. Any work of art which is not a beginning, an invention, a discovery is of little worth.

— Ezra Pound