--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Existence itself is nothing if not an…" description: "\"Existence itself is nothing if not an amazement. Good poems restore amazement.\" — Jane Hirshfield" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/jane-hirshfield-2649_amazement_existence-itself-is-nothing-if-not-an-am_821830.png" --- # Existence itself is nothing if not an amazement. Good… ![“Existence itself is nothing if not an amazement. Good poems restore amazement.” quote by Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/jane-hirshfield-2649_amazement_existence-itself-is-nothing-if-not-an-am_821830.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/jane-hirshfield-2649_amazement_existence-itself-is-nothing-if-not-an-am_821830.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/jane-hirshfield-2649_amazement_existence-itself-is-nothing-if-not-an-am_821830.png) > “Existence itself is nothing if not an amazement. Good poems restore amazement.” [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life feels empty without wonder; poetry revives that sense of awe and meaning. **In simple terms:** Poetry restores awe. Key Takeaway Seek wonder in daily life. Themes wonder poetry meaning existence Mood reflective inspired Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading poetry - visiting museums - contemplating nature - mindful observation Key Concepts aesthetic appreciation spiritual renewal Questions to Reflect On - How can you cultivate awe today? - What poems stir your sense of wonder? A Different Perspective Amazement may fade without active engagement. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amazement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amazement/) [Amazement Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amazement-good-479339/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Existence Amazement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence-amazement-479338/) [Good Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-poems-337895/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Poems Restore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems-restore-479341/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Restore Amazement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restore-amazement-479340/) ## Related quotes > [Good poems ask us to have complex minds and hearts. Even simple-of-surface poems want that. Perhaps those are the ones that want it most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/good-poems-ask-us-to-have-complex-minds-and-hearts-even-simple-of/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I began to imitate what I was reading, and I started to become a poet, even though what I was writing were not good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/i-began-to-imitate-what-i-was-reading-and-i-started-to-become-a-poet/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [All good poems are victories over something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-dunn/all-good-poems-are-victories-over-something/) [Stephen Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-dunn/) > [Good poems do a lot of things at once. Often, by doing so, they encourage us to acknowledge mixed and incompatible feelings. Good poems,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-burt/good-poems-do-a-lot-of-things-at-once-often-by-doing-so-they/) [Stephen Burt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-burt/) > [It's good to have poems that begin with tea and end with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bly/it-s-good-to-have-poems-that-begin-with-tea-and-end-with-god/) [Robert Bly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bly/) > [... to write well it is entirely necessary to read widely and deeply. Good poems are the best teachers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/to-write-well-it-is-entirely-necessary-to-read-widely-and-deeply-good/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Now listen to me, please: On a winter day, when you were a lycée student, it was snowing, and you were lost in thought.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/now-listen-to-me-please-on-a-winter-day-when-you-were-a-lyc-e-student/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [To write good poems is the secret of brevity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dejan-stojanovic/to-write-good-poems-is-the-secret-of-brevity/) [Dejan Stojanovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dejan-stojanovic/) > [Well, the great thing for me about poetry is that in good poems the dislocation of words, that is to say, the distance between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-mathews/well-the-great-thing-for-me-about-poetry-is-that-in-good-poems-the/) [Harry Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-mathews/) > [Good acts are like good poems. One may easily get their drift, but they are not rationally understood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/good-acts-are-like-good-poems-one-may-easily-get-their-drift-but-they/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Poverty is very good in poems but very bad in the house; very good in maxims and sermons but very bad in practical life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/poverty-is-very-good-in-poems-but-very-bad-in-the-house-very-good-in/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [A good poem is a tautology. It expands one word by adding a number which clarify it, thus making a new word which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-gray/a-good-poem-is-a-tautology-it-expands-one-word-by-adding-a-number/) [Alasdair Gray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-gray/) > [With education symmetrical and true we will take the dead mass buried by slavery's hand and touch them to life. This beauteous angel, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-tecumseh-vernon/with-education-symmetrical-and-true-we-will-take-the-dead-mass-buried/) [William Tecumseh Vernon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-tecumseh-vernon/) > [When I got on the set of 'Saving Private Ryan,' I discovered, to my amazement, that Steven Spielberg is a gamer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vin-diesel/when-i-got-on-the-set-of-saving-private-ryan-i-discovered-to-my/) [Vin Diesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vin-diesel/) > [We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in." "Yes!" Leo pumped his fist. \*…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/we-started-this-together-leo-seems-only-right-you-come-along-you-find/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) ## More by Jane Hirshfield > [I don't have a cell phone (though for years I've kept saying, "soon").](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-don-t-have-a-cell-phone-though-for-years-i-ve-kept-saying-soon/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I once was asked to contribute to a mushroom poem anthology. I didn't have anything, and so instead ended up writing the introduction. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-once-was-asked-to-contribute-to-a-mushroom-poem-anthology-i-didn-t/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Everything has two endings- a horse, a piece of string, a phone call. Before a life, air. And after. As silence is not silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/everything-has-two-endings-a-horse-a-piece-of-string-a-phone-call/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [A certain amount of housekeeping also goes on in my poems. I wash doorknobs, do dishes, mop floors, patch carpets, cook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/a-certain-amount-of-housekeeping-also-goes-on-in-my-poems-i-wash/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Self carries grief as a pack mule carries the side bags, being careful between the trees to leave extra room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/self-carries-grief-as-a-pack-mule-carries-the-side-bags-being-careful/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [My job as a human being as well as a writer is to feel as thoroughly as possible the experience that I am part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/my-job-as-a-human-being-as-well-as-a-writer-is-to-feel-as-thoroughly/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I want to preserve a certain unknowing about my own poems - perhaps because unknowing is in itself a useful poetic thirst. To move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-want-to-preserve-a-certain-unknowing-about-my-own-poems-perhaps/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Habit, laziness, and fear conspire to keep us comfortably within the familiar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/habit-laziness-and-fear-conspire-to-keep-us-comfortably-within-the/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [In order to gain anything, you must first lose everything](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/in-order-to-gain-anything-you-must-first-lose-everything/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [The same words come from each mouth differently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-same-words-come-from-each-mouth-differently/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Metaphors think with the imagination and the senses. The hot chili peppers in them explode in the mouth and the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/metaphors-think-with-the-imagination-and-the-senses-the-hot-chili/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Your fate is to be yourself, both punishment and crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/your-fate-is-to-be-yourself-both-punishment-and-crime/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Near even a candle, the visible heat. So it is with a person in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/near-even-a-candle-the-visible-heat-so-it-is-with-a-person-in-love/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [At some point I realized that you don't get a full human life if you try to cut off one end of it, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/at-some-point-i-realized-that-you-don-t-get-a-full-human-life-if-you/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Immensity is always there, but we so often become numb to it, or deceive ourselves into thinking our own lives and selves are what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/immensity-is-always-there-but-we-so-often-become-numb-to-it-or/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) [Explore all 156 Jane Hirshfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) ## More Amazement quotes > [We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in." "Yes!" Leo pumped his fist. \*…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/we-started-this-together-leo-seems-only-right-you-come-along-you-find/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [When I got on the set of 'Saving Private Ryan,' I discovered, to my amazement, that Steven Spielberg is a gamer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vin-diesel/when-i-got-on-the-set-of-saving-private-ryan-i-discovered-to-my/) [Vin Diesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vin-diesel/) > [With education symmetrical and true we will take the dead mass buried by slavery's hand and touch them to life. This beauteous angel, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-tecumseh-vernon/with-education-symmetrical-and-true-we-will-take-the-dead-mass-buried/) [William Tecumseh Vernon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-tecumseh-vernon/) > [The very fact that we make such a to-do over golden weddings indicates our amazement at human endurance. The celebration is more in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilka-chase/the-very-fact-that-we-make-such-a-to-do-over-golden-weddings/) [Ilka Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilka-chase/) > [I think it wasn't so much that the White House altered me in any essential way as that I found the resources with which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-ford/i-think-it-wasn-t-so-much-that-the-white-house-altered-me-in-any/) [Betty Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-ford/) > [He sees with amazement that our defeats are but the stepping stones to victory and that all his victories are stepping stones to ruin.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/he-sees-with-amazement-that-our-defeats-are-but-the-stepping-stones/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Sometime in the last ten years the best brains of the Occident discovered to their amazement that we live in an Environment. This discovery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-snyder/sometime-in-the-last-ten-years-the-best-brains-of-the-occident/) [Gary Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-snyder/) > [When one thinks of the wondrous glory of Christ, how astonishing that He can join with us! But more, when one thinks of His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-wigram/when-one-thinks-of-the-wondrous-glory-of-christ-how-astonishing-that/) [George Wigram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-wigram/) > [Other people's marriages are a perpetual source of amazement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-o-brian/other-people-s-marriages-are-a-perpetual-source-of-amazement/) [Patrick O'Brian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-o-brian/) > [Adlai Stevenson, himself a notable speaker, often reminisced about his last meeting with Churchill. I asked him on whom or what he had based…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bourke-cockran/adlai-stevenson-himself-a-notable-speaker-often-reminisced-about-his/) [William Bourke Cockran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bourke-cockran/) > [I realized a long time ago, with a certain amazement, that no mattter how important something is in your life, no matter how huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-shinn/i-realized-a-long-time-ago-with-a-certain-amazement-that-no-mattter/) [Sharon Shinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-shinn/) > [Basically, I want to spend my time in retreat, but to my own amazement, I agreed to help with a project to start a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tenzin-palmo/basically-i-want-to-spend-my-time-in-retreat-but-to-my-own-amazement/) [Tenzin Palmo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tenzin-palmo/) > [Ten times a day something happens to me like this - some strengthening throb of amazement - some good sweet empathic ping and swell.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/ten-times-a-day-something-happens-to-me-like-this-some-strengthening/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [DREAM PREDICTION ELITE is the realization of true amazement in your audiences reactions. This is PURE GOLD - A REAL WINNER](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banachek/dream-prediction-elite-is-the-realization-of-true-amazement-in-your/) [Banachek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banachek/) > [Poetry is a language in which man explores his own amazement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-fry/poetry-is-a-language-in-which-man-explores-his-own-amazement/) [Christopher Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-fry/) [Browse all 241 Amazement quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amazement/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Existence itself is nothing if not an amazement. 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