--- title: "10 Way Quotes By Wallace Stevens" description: "10 Way quotes by Wallace Stevens. Plus more from Wallace Stevens and more Way sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/wallace-stevens-846_children_people-ought-to-like-poetry-the-way-a-ch_2574355.jpg" --- > [People ought to like poetry the way a child likes snow & they would if poets wrote it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/people-ought-to-like-poetry-the-way-a-child-likes-snow-they-would-if/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/wallace-stevens-846_children_people-ought-to-like-poetry-the-way-a-ch_2574355.jpg) > [The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-way-through-the-world-is-more-difficult-to-find-than-the-way/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/wallace-stevens-846_difficult_the-way-through-the-world-is-more-diffic_11734.jpg) > [People should like poetry the way a child likes snow, and they would if poets wrote it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/people-should-like-poetry-the-way-a-child-likes-snow-and-they-would/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a89/wallace-stevens-846_children_people-should-like-poetry-the-way-a-chil_910965.jpg) > [A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/a-poet-looks-at-the-world-the-way-a-man-looks-at-a-woman/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f1/wallace-stevens-846_looks_a-poet-looks-at-the-world-the-way-a-man_2638864.jpg) > [That tuft of jungle feathers, That animal eye, Is just what you say. That savage of fire, That seed, Have it your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/that-tuft-of-jungle-feathers-that-animal-eye-is-just-what-you-say/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/921/wallace-stevens-846_animal_that-tuft-of-jungle-feathers-that-animal_486740.jpg) > [Most people read poetry listening for echoes because the echoes are familiar to them. They wade through it the way a boy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/most-people-read-poetry-listening-for-echoes-because-the-echoes-are/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f09/wallace-stevens-846_bottom_most-people-read-poetry-listening-for-ec_1091563.jpg) > [In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American --…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/in-european-thought-in-general-as-contrasted-with-american-vigor-life/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/wallace-stevens-846_artistic_in-european-thought-in-general-as-contra_1262522.jpg) > [In the same way, you were happy in spring, With the half colors of quarter-things, The slightly brighter sky, the melting clouds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/in-the-same-way-you-were-happy-in-spring-with-the-half-colors-of/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/446/wallace-stevens-846_bird_in-the-same-way-you-were-happy-in-spring_1361139.jpg) > [Most poets who have little or nothing to say are concerned primarily with the way in which they say it ... if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/most-poets-who-have-little-or-nothing-to-say-are-concerned-primarily/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39f/wallace-stevens-846_art_most-poets-who-have-little-or-nothing-to_1692068.jpg) > [I measure myself Against a tall tree I find that I am much taller, For I reach right up to the sun…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-measure-myself-against-a-tall-tree-i-find-that-i-am-much-taller-for/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/wallace-stevens-846_ants_i-measure-myself-against-a-tall-tree-i-f_715066.jpg) ## Other authors on Way ## More by Wallace Stevens > [Poet, patting more nonsense foamed From the sea, conceive for thecourts Of these academies, the diviner health Disclosed in common forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poet-patting-more-nonsense-foamed-from-the-sea-conceive-for-thecourts/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The way through the world is more difficult to find than the way beyond it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-way-through-the-world-is-more-difficult-to-find-than-the-way/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The magnificent cause of being, The imagination, the one reality In this imagined world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-magnificent-cause-of-being-the-imagination-the-one-reality-in/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Music falls on the silence like a sense / A passion that we feel, not understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/music-falls-on-the-silence-like-a-sense-a-passion-that-we-feel-not/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The life of the city never lets you go, nor do you ever want it to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-life-of-the-city-never-lets-you-go-nor-do-you-ever-want-it-to/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [After a lustre of the moon, we say We have not the need of any paradise, We have not the need of any seducing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/after-a-lustre-of-the-moon-we-say-we-have-not-the-need-of-any/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [I am what is around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-am-what-is-around-me/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“We live in an old chaos of the sun, Or old dependency of day and night, Or island solitude, unsponsored, free, Of that wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/we-live-in-an-old-chaos-of-the-sun-or-old-dependency-of-day-and-night/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“Lunar Paraphrase" The moon is the mother of pathos and pity. When, at the wearier end of November, Her old light moves along the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/lunar-paraphrase-the-moon-is-the-mother-of-pathos-and-pity-when-at/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Poetry is the scholar's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/poetry-is-the-scholar-s-art/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [“The stars are putting on their glittering belts, They throw around their shoulders cloaks that flash Like a great shadow's last embellishment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-stars-are-putting-on-their-glittering-belts-they-throw-around/) [wallace stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [Unfortunately there is nothing more inane than an Easter carol. It is a religious perversion of the activity of Spring in our blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/unfortunately-there-is-nothing-more-inane-than-an-easter-carol-it-is/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [The word is the making of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/the-word-is-the-making-of-the-world/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [A diary is more or less the work of a man of clay whose hands are clumsy and in whose eyes there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/a-diary-is-more-or-less-the-work-of-a-man-of-clay-whose-hands-are/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) > [It is never the thing but the version of the thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/it-is-never-the-thing-but-the-version-of-the-thing/) [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ```json { "@context": 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They wade through it…” — Wallace Stevens", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American -- on the other hand, is expressed in an eager amateurish way. A European gives a sense of scope, of survey, of consideration. An American is strained, sensational. One is artistic gold; the other is bullion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/in-european-thought-in-general-as-contrasted-with-american-vigor-life/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/wallace-stevens-846_artistic_in-european-thought-in-general-as-contra_1262522.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/wallace-stevens-846_artistic_in-european-thought-in-general-as-contra_1262522.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/wallace-stevens-846_artistic_in-european-thought-in-general-as-contra_1262522.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of…” — Wallace Stevens", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In the same way, you were happy in spring, With the half colors of quarter-things, The slightly brighter sky, the melting clouds, The single bird, the obscure moon- The obscure moon lighting an obscure world Of thing that would never be quite expressed, Where you yourself were never quite yourself And did not want nor have to be ...", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/in-the-same-way-you-were-happy-in-spring-with-the-half-colors-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/446/wallace-stevens-846_bird_in-the-same-way-you-were-happy-in-spring_1361139.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/446/wallace-stevens-846_bird_in-the-same-way-you-were-happy-in-spring_1361139.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/446/wallace-stevens-846_bird_in-the-same-way-you-were-happy-in-spring_1361139.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the same way, you were happy in spring, With the half colors of quarter-things, The slightly brighter…” — Wallace Stevens", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Most poets who have little or nothing to say are concerned primarily with the way in which they say it ... if it is true that the style of a poem and the poem itself are one, ... it may be ... that the poets who have little or nothing to say are, or will be, the poets that matter.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/most-poets-who-have-little-or-nothing-to-say-are-concerned-primarily/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39f/wallace-stevens-846_art_most-poets-who-have-little-or-nothing-to_1692068.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39f/wallace-stevens-846_art_most-poets-who-have-little-or-nothing-to_1692068.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/39f/wallace-stevens-846_art_most-poets-who-have-little-or-nothing-to_1692068.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Most poets who have little or nothing to say are concerned primarily with the way in which they say it…” — Wallace Stevens", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I measure myself Against a tall tree I find that I am much taller, For I reach right up to the sun With my eye; And I reach to the shore of the sea With my ear. Nevertheless, I dislike The way the ants crawl In and out of my shadow.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Wallace Stevens" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stevens/i-measure-myself-against-a-tall-tree-i-find-that-i-am-much-taller-for/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/wallace-stevens-846_ants_i-measure-myself-against-a-tall-tree-i-f_715066.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/wallace-stevens-846_ants_i-measure-myself-against-a-tall-tree-i-f_715066.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e02/wallace-stevens-846_ants_i-measure-myself-against-a-tall-tree-i-f_715066.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I measure myself Against a tall tree I find that I am much taller, For I reach right up to the sun With my…” — Wallace Stevens", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/wallace-stevens/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/wallace-stevens/", "name": "Way Quotes by Wallace Stevens", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/wallace-stevens/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54a/wallace-stevens-846_children_people-ought-to-like-poetry-the-way-a-ch_2574355.jpg" }, "description": "10 Way quotes by Wallace Stevens. 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