--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If society abolishes poetry it commits…" description: "\"If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide.\" — Octavio Paz" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg" --- # If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide. ![“If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide.” quote by Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg) > “If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide.” [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Neglecting poetry erodes humanity’s inner depth, leading to a loss of spiritual richness. **In simple terms:** Skipping poetry kills spirit. Key Takeaway Preserve poetry to sustain spirit. Themes spirituality culture art Mood reflective somber Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education curricula - public discourse - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism aesthetic value Questions to Reflect On - How does poetry nurture inner life? - What is lost when art is ignored? A Different Perspective Poetry may be undervalued in pragmatic societies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual/) [Suicide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suicide/) ## Related quotes > [Certainty abolishes hope, and robs us of renewal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/certainty-abolishes-hope-and-robs-us-of-renewal/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [Society has quite forsaken all her wicked courses, Which empties our police courts, and abolishes divorces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-s-gilbert/society-has-quite-forsaken-all-her-wicked-courses-which-empties-our/) [W. S. Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-s-gilbert/) > [When you are not pursuing your goal, you are literally committing spiritual suicide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/les-brown/when-you-are-not-pursuing-your-goal-you-are-literally-committing/) [Les Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/les-brown/) > [Want a reliable road to emotional and spiritual suicide? Spend your life trying to fit in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-mull/want-a-reliable-road-to-emotional-and-spiritual-suicide-spend-your/) [Brandon Mull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-mull/) > [Any nation or government that deprives an individual of freedom is in that moment committing an act of moral and spiritual murder. Any individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/any-nation-or-government-that-deprives-an-individual-of-freedom-is-in/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [The way of acquiescence leads to moral and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/the-way-of-acquiescence-leads-to-moral-and-spiritual-suicide-the-way/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [Be yourself...don't live in a lie because when you lose yourself, you commit spiritual suicide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-elise/be-yourself-don-t-live-in-a-lie-because-when-you-lose-yourself-you/) Angelina Elise > [“Hate is spiritual suicide”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melinda-campbell/hate-is-spiritual-suicide/) Melinda Campbell > [“To ignore Satan and his strategies is to commit spiritual suicide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-hitchcock/to-ignore-satan-and-his-strategies-is-to-commit-spiritual-suicide/) [Mark Hitchcock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-hitchcock/) > [Do not commit spiritual suicide through a passion for discussing metaphysical subtleties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-not-commit-spiritual-suicide-through-a-passion-for-discussing/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [People getting ready to go to jobs that they don’t like, jobs that are making them sick. You see when you are not pursuing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/les-brown/people-getting-ready-to-go-to-jobs-that-they-don-t-like-jobs-that-are/) [Les Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/les-brown/) > [“Self-pity is spiritual suicide. It is an indefensible self-mutilation of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthon-st-maarten/self-pity-is-spiritual-suicide-it-is-an-indefensible-self-mutilation/) [Anthon St. Maarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthon-st-maarten/) > [Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/do-not-suppose-that-abuses-are-eliminated-by-destroying-the-object/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [I will not be a Democrat or a Republican. They are the problem, not the solution. We need to abolish political parties in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ventura/i-will-not-be-a-democrat-or-a-republican-they-are-the-problem-not-the/) [Jesse Ventura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ventura/) > [To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/to-be-creative-means-to-connect-it-s-to-abolish-the-gap-between-the/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) ## More by Octavio Paz > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [I thought that the world was a vast system of signs, a conversation between giant beings. My actions, the cricket's saw, the star's blink,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/i-thought-that-the-world-was-a-vast-system-of-signs-a-conversation/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Changes are inseparable from democracy. To defend democracy is to defend the possibility of change; in turn, changes alone can strengthen democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/changes-are-inseparable-from-democracy-to-defend-democracy-is-to/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Grace is gratuitous; it is a gift.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/grace-is-gratuitous-it-is-a-gift/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Death is the mother of forms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/death-is-the-mother-of-forms/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [It is not proper to project our feelings onto things or to attribute our own sensations and passions to them. Can it also be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/it-is-not-proper-to-project-our-feelings-onto-things-or-to-attribute/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Without democracy freedom is a chimera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/without-democracy-freedom-is-a-chimera/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [“I went to the little window and inhaled the country air. One could hear the breathing of the night, feminine, enormous. ("The Blue Bouquet")”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/i-went-to-the-little-window-and-inhaled-the-country-air-one-could/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [A glass pitcher, a wicker basket, a tunic of coarse cloth. Their beauty is inseparable from their function. Handicrafts belong to a world existing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/a-glass-pitcher-a-wicker-basket-a-tunic-of-coarse-cloth-their-beauty/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [“Between going and staying the day wavers, in love with its own transparency. The circular afternoon is now a bay where the world in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/between-going-and-staying-the-day-wavers-in-love-with-its-own/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [“Two bodies face to face Are at times two waves And the night is an ocean. Two bodies face to face Are sometimes two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/two-bodies-face-to-face-are-at-times-two-waves-and-the-night-is-an/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Writers, you know, are the beggars of Western society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/writers-you-know-are-the-beggars-of-western-society/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [“Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/solitude-is-the-profoundest-fact-of-the-human-condition/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [“...you are you and your body of steam, you and your face of night, you and your hair, unhurried lightning, you cross the street…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/you-are-you-and-your-body-of-steam-you-and-your-face-of-night-you-and/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) [Explore all 150 Octavio Paz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) ## More Abolish quotes > [To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/to-be-creative-means-to-connect-it-s-to-abolish-the-gap-between-the/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) > [I will not be a Democrat or a Republican. They are the problem, not the solution. We need to abolish political parties in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ventura/i-will-not-be-a-democrat-or-a-republican-they-are-the-problem-not-the/) [Jesse Ventura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ventura/) > [Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/do-not-suppose-that-abuses-are-eliminated-by-destroying-the-object/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [Throughout the last century there were multiple attempts at giving Afghan women more autonomy, to change marriage laws, to abolish the practice of bride…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/throughout-the-last-century-there-were-multiple-attempts-at-giving/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [But perhaps the next step isn't to, once again, expand the otherwise narrow definition of marriage but to altogether abolish the false distinction between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-kohn/but-perhaps-the-next-step-isn-t-to-once-again-expand-the-otherwise/) [Sally Kohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-kohn/) > [I know we can't abolish prejudice through laws, but we can set up guidelines for our actions by legislation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-we-can-t-abolish-prejudice-through-laws-but-we-can-set-up/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What we need is someone to abolish the House Of Lords, get rid of the Royal Family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/what-we-need-is-someone-to-abolish-the-house-of-lords-get-rid-of-the/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-gompers/there-is-not-a-right-too-long-denied-to-which-we-do-not-aspire-in/) [Samuel Gompers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-gompers/) > [Environmental scientists also show us clearly that from the environmental and ecological points of view that nuclear war is not preventable. The only way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tadatoshi-akiba/environmental-scientists-also-show-us-clearly-that-from-the/) Tadatoshi Akiba > [We should abolish 'work.' By that I mean abolishing the distinction between work and leisure, one of the greatest mistakes of the last century,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-zeldin/we-should-abolish-work-by-that-i-mean-abolishing-the-distinction/) [Theodore Zeldin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-zeldin/) > [The Bolsheviks started not just on the killing of private property; they were trying to abolish money itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatoly-chubais/the-bolsheviks-started-not-just-on-the-killing-of-private-property/) [Anatoly Chubais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatoly-chubais/) > [Let us leave the EEC, abolish human rights laws, take TV sets, pool tables and phones out of prisons, bring back corporal and capital…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-bates/let-us-leave-the-eec-abolish-human-rights-laws-take-tv-sets-pool/) [Ken Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-bates/) > [Government spending cannot create additional jobs. If the government provides the funds required by taxing the citizens or by borrowing from the public, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/government-spending-cannot-create-additional-jobs-if-the-government/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/liberty-is-to-faction-what-air-is-to-fire-an-aliment-without-which-it/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [I know in London a Welsh hairdresser who has striven so vehemently to abolish his accent that he sounds like a man speaking with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dylan-thomas/i-know-in-london-a-welsh-hairdresser-who-has-striven-so-vehemently-to/) [Dylan Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dylan-thomas/) Browse all 300 Abolish quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Octavio Paz" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-spiritual-suicide/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Abolish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-spiritual-suicide/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c24/octavio-paz-1790_abolish_if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-s_731658.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If society abolishes poetry it commits spiritual suicide.” — Octavio Paz", "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": "Octavio Paz", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If society abolishes poetry it commits...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-spiritual-suicide/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/if-society-abolishes-poetry-it-commits-spiritual-suicide/#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 } } ] } ```