--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Men endowed with a wild imagination…" description: "\"Men endowed with a wild imagination should have, in addition, the great poetic faculty of denying our universe and its values so that they may act upon..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg" --- # Men endowed with a wild imagination should have, in… ![“Men endowed with a wild imagination should have, in addition, the great poetic faculty of denying our universe and its values so that they may act upon it with sovereign ease.” quote by Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg) > “Men endowed with a wild imagination should have, in addition, the great poetic faculty of denying our universe and its values so that they may act upon it with sovereign ease.” [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagination combined with poetic denial lets individuals transcend ordinary values and act freely. **In simple terms:** Creative denial frees us to act beyond norms. Key Takeaway Use imagination to challenge constraints. Themes imagination poetry transcendence freedom creativity Mood defiant inspired Type philosophical artistic When to use this quote - writing - artistic creation - personal growth - social critique Key Concepts existentialism artistic rebellion psychology of denial Questions to Reflect On - What values do you deny to create? - When does poetic denial become harmful? A Different Perspective Denial can lead to escapism rather than constructive change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Denying Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denying-universe-3927211/) [Ease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ease/) [Faculty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faculty/) [Great poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-poet/) [Great Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-poetic-1003225/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men Endowed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-endowed-2605269/) [Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Should have](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should-have/) [Sovereign](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sovereign/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) [Wild imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wild-imagination/) ## Related quotes > [After all, the commonplaces are the great poetic truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/after-all-the-commonplaces-are-the-great-poetic-truths/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [To find beauty in the sad, hope in the midst of loss, and dignity in failure is great poetic art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mamet/to-find-beauty-in-the-sad-hope-in-the-midst-of-loss-and-dignity-in/) [David Mamet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mamet/) > [“Allocate your resources wisely for all men have been endowed with abilities that are more than sufficient to accomplish even the greatest of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stella-payton/allocate-your-resources-wisely-for-all-men-have-been-endowed-with/) [Stella Payton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stella-payton/) > [“he amended the thought to say that men were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” thus”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/he-amended-the-thought-to-say-that-men-were-endowed-by-their-creator/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Like all men endowed with great mental mobility, I have an irrevocable, organic love of settledness. I abhor new ways of life and unfamiliar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/like-all-men-endowed-with-great-mental-mobility-i-have-an-irrevocable/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [What wild imaginations one forms where dear self is concerned! How sure to be mistaken!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/what-wild-imaginations-one-forms-where-dear-self-is-concerned-how/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [I had this wild imagination. I was never me. All my childhood photos, I'm in fancy dress, playing a Russian refuge or Marvelous Mad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juno-temple/i-had-this-wild-imagination-i-was-never-me-all-my-childhood-photos-i/) [Juno Temple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juno-temple/) > [Then there was Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote for Weird Tales and who had a wild imagination. He wasn't a very talented writer, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-vance/then-there-was-clark-ashton-smith-who-wrote-for-weird-tales-and-who/) [Jack Vance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-vance/) > [The music had to be rooted, and yet had to branch out,like the wild imagination of a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-r-rahman/the-music-had-to-be-rooted-and-yet-had-to-branch-out-like-the-wild/) [A. R. Rahman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-r-rahman/) > [I just had a crazy, wild imagination all my life, and science fiction is the greatest outlet for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-spielberg/i-just-had-a-crazy-wild-imagination-all-my-life-and-science-fiction/) [Steven Spielberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-spielberg/) > [All the best have something in common, a regard for reality, an agreement to its primacy over the imagination. Even the richest, most surprising…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wislawa-szymborska/all-the-best-have-something-in-common-a-regard-for-reality-an/) [Wislawa Szymborska](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wislawa-szymborska/) > [Imagination plus innovation equals realization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-waitley/imagination-plus-innovation-equals-realization/) [Denis Waitley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-waitley/) > [I had a wild imagination as a kid - wild! - and I was outside all the time, swinging around in trees by myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-bomer/i-had-a-wild-imagination-as-a-kid-wild-and-i-was-outside-all-the-time/) [Matt Bomer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-bomer/) > [My imagination completely controls me, and forever feeds the fire that burns with dark red light in my heart by bringing me the best…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-imagination-completely-controls-me-and-forever-feeds-the-fire-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One thing I think about a lot is that one of my favorite pieces of narrative art as a child was 'Calvin and Hobbes.'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raphael-bob-waksberg/one-thing-i-think-about-a-lot-is-that-one-of-my-favorite-pieces-of/) [Raphael Bob-Waksberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raphael-bob-waksberg/) ## More by Jean Genet > [I'm homosexual. How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-m-homosexual-how-and-why-are-idle-questions-it-s-a-little-like/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth, would be to have been young and never dreamed at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/worse-than-not-realizing-the-dreams-of-your-youth-would-be-to-have/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [The most reasonable man always manages, when he pulls the trigger, to become a dispenser of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/the-most-reasonable-man-always-manages-when-he-pulls-the-trigger-to/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [I could not take lightly the idea that people made love without me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-could-not-take-lightly-the-idea-that-people-made-love-without-me/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Repudiating the virtues of your world, criminals hopelessly agree to organize a forbidden universe. They agree to live in it. The air there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/repudiating-the-virtues-of-your-world-criminals-hopelessly-agree-to/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Perhaps all music, even the newest, is not so much something discovered as something that re-emerges from where it lay buried in the memory,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/perhaps-all-music-even-the-newest-is-not-so-much-something-discovered/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Love makes use of the worst traps. The least noble. The rarest. It exploits coincidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/love-makes-use-of-the-worst-traps-the-least-noble-the-rarest-it/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“They made comments about the women's legs, but, as they were not witty, their remarks had no finesse. Since their emotion was not torn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/they-made-comments-about-the-women-s-legs-but-as-they-were-not-witty/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“Thereafter, he ennobled shame. He bore it in my presence like a burden, like a tiger clinging to his shoulders, the threat of which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/thereafter-he-ennobled-shame-he-bore-it-in-my-presence-like-a-burden/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [I decided to be what crime made of me,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/i-decided-to-be-what-crime-made-of-me/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [Prison, dungeons, blessed places where evil is impossible because they are the crossroads of all the evil in the world. One cannot commit evil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/prison-dungeons-blessed-places-where-evil-is-impossible-because-they/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [A great wind swept over the ghetto, carrying away shame, invisibility and four centuries of humiliation. But when the wind dropped people saw it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/a-great-wind-swept-over-the-ghetto-carrying-away-shame-invisibility/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [In reviewing my life, in tracing its course, I fill my cell with the pleasure of being what for want of a trifle I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/in-reviewing-my-life-in-tracing-its-course-i-fill-my-cell-with-the/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“The rims of his eyelids were burning. A blow received straightens a man up and makes the body move forward, to return that blow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/the-rims-of-his-eyelids-were-burning-a-blow-received-straightens-a/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) > [“My love is always sad.”' “That's right. As soon as I kiss you, you get sad. I've noticed it.” “Does it bother you?” “No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/my-love-is-always-sad-that-s-right-as-soon-as-i-kiss-you-you-get-sad/) [Jean Genet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) [Explore all 115 Jean Genet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/) ## More Creativity quotes > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“The Soviet “creative intelligentsia” - that is, people accustomed to thinking one thing, saying another and doing a third - is as a whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-amalrik/the-soviet-creative-intelligentsia-that-is-people-accustomed-to/) [Andrei Amalrik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrei-amalrik/) > [It’s so important to create in your own voice, to hold onto what makes you unique, and have faith in your vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/it-s-so-important-to-create-in-your-own-voice-to-hold-onto-what-makes/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/a-rock-pile-ceases-to-be-a-rock-pile-the-moment-a-single-man/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [You don't get lucky. You create lucky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-sharma/you-don-t-get-lucky-you-create-lucky/) [Robin Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-sharma/) > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [“You are the end of beauty and creativity one must have created so far.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/you-are-the-end-of-beauty-and-creativity-one-must-have-created-so-far/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [Jonah Lehrer is one of the most talented explainers of science that we’ve got. What a pleasure it is to follow his investigation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-foer/jonah-lehrer-is-one-of-the-most-talented-explainers-of-science-that/) [Joshua Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-foer/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [“I believe in magic. As a writer, I create them on blank paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonnia-kemmer/i-believe-in-magic-as-a-writer-i-create-them-on-blank-paper/) [Sonnia Kemmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonnia-kemmer/) > [Creativity is like chasing chickens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-niemann/creativity-is-like-chasing-chickens/) [Christoph Niemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-niemann/) > [It is proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bohm/it-is-proposed-that-a-form-of-free-dialogue-may-well-be-one-of-the/) [David Bohm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bohm/) > [You always hear actors say, 'Theater is my first love,' and it is. It's a time when you really get to do what you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-landecker/you-always-hear-actors-say-theater-is-my-first-love-and-it-is-it-s-a/) [Amy Landecker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-landecker/) > [Create an environment for people to fail, to learn, and to grow. Their creativity and productivity will increase.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/create-an-environment-for-people-to-fail-to-learn-and-to-grow-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 13,625 Creativity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Men endowed with a wild imagination should have, in addition, the great poetic faculty of denying our universe and its values so that they may act upon it with sovereign ease.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Genet" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-should-have-in-addition-the-great/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creativity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-should-have-in-addition-the-great/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jean-genet-3865_creativity_men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-shou_1248810.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Men endowed with a wild imagination should have, in addition, the great poetic faculty of denying our…” — Jean Genet", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jean Genet", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-genet/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Men endowed with a wild imagination...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-should-have-in-addition-the-great/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-genet/men-endowed-with-a-wild-imagination-should-have-in-addition-the-great/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```