--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The people in the world, and the objects…" description: "\"The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the world as a whole, are not absolute things, but on the contrary, are the phenomena of perception..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70e/wallace-stevens-846_curiosity_the-people-in-the-world-and-the-objects_3003935.jpg" --- # The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the… ![“The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the world as a whole, are not absolute things, but on the contrary, are the phenomena of perception... If we were all alike: if we were millions of people saying do, re, mi, in unison, One poet would be enough... But we are not alone, and…” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70e/wallace-stevens-846_curiosity_the-people-in-the-world-and-the-objects_3003935.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70e/wallace-stevens-846_curiosity_the-people-in-the-world-and-the-objects_3003935.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70e/wallace-stevens-846_curiosity_the-people-in-the-world-and-the-objects_3003935.jpg) > “The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the world as a whole, are not absolute things, but on the contrary, are the phenomena of perception... If we were all alike: if we were millions of people saying do, re, mi, in unison, One poet would be enough... But we are not alone, and everything needs expounding all the time because, as people live and die, each one perceiving life and death for himself, and mostly by and in himself, there develops a curiosity about the perceptions of others. This is what makes it possible to go on saying new things about old things.” [Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our reality is shaped by individual perception, not fixed absolutes, prompting curiosity about others' views and continual reinterpretation of old ideas. **In simple terms:** Reality depends on perception, not absolutes. Key Takeaway Seek diverse perspectives. Themes perception subjectivity curiosity Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - art criticism - philosophical debate - personal growth - cultural analysis Key Concepts phenomenology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How do your perceptions shape your reality? - What can you learn from others' viewpoints? A Different Perspective Perception varies, so conclusions can be unstable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Curiosity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curiosity/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life and death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-and-death/) [New things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-things/) [Not alone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/not-alone/) [Old things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-things/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Perception of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception-of-others/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Unison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unison/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“I heard my old friend Clem’s voice coming back to me through the dimness of thirty years: “I see you coming here trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-heard-my-old-friend-clem-s-voice-coming-back-to-me-through-the/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [Buddhists don't feel that enlightenment is particularly unusual. We feel that it's the natural state. Enlightenment simply means perceiving life directly as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/buddhists-don-t-feel-that-enlightenment-is-particularly-unusual-we/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Dimensionality only exists because the mind can perceive life that way, but that's only one simple method that the mind has for perceiving itself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/dimensionality-only-exists-because-the-mind-can-perceive-life-that/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Gratitude places you in the energy field of plentitude. Perceiving life in a consciousness of gratitude is literally stepping into another dimension of living.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-beckwith/gratitude-places-you-in-the-energy-field-of-plentitude-perceiving/) [Michael Beckwith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-beckwith/) > [“Next to this central belief which,while I was reading, would be constantly reaching out from my inner self to the outer world, towards the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/next-to-this-central-belief-which-while-i-was-reading-would-be/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [If it is widely assumed that the new President cannot move forward simply because of a narrow victory, there can easily develop a sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-v-allen/if-it-is-widely-assumed-that-the-new-president-cannot-move-forward/) [Richard V. Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-v-allen/) > [Don't allow perception of others hinder you from being good. Allow yourself to shine privately. Always be yourself. Everyone is originally good at heart.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-allow-perception-of-others-hinder-you-from-being-good-allow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Your world can change in an instant when you see someone through another's eyes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-g-bailey/your-world-can-change-in-an-instant-when-you-see-someone-through/) [Alison G. Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-g-bailey/) > [Adolescents, for all their self-involvement, are emerging from the self-centeredness of childhood. Their perception of other people has more depth. They are better equipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terri-e-apter/adolescents-for-all-their-self-involvement-are-emerging-from-the-self/) [Terri E Apter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terri-e-apter/) > [Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations. Man's capacity for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-william-fulbright/educational-exchange-can-turn-nations-into-people-contributing-as-no/) [J. William Fulbright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-william-fulbright/) > [I feel like people focus too much on what other people think of their lives and trying to appear like they have it all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melanie-iglesias/i-feel-like-people-focus-too-much-on-what-other-people-think-of-their/) [Melanie Iglesias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melanie-iglesias/) > [“Sometimes, authors' descriptions of unique fictional characters are like mirrors that reflect the readers image back.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-abix/sometimes-authors-descriptions-of-unique-fictional-characters-are/) Ben Abix > [That peace that we're after, lies somewhere beyond personality, beyond the perception of others, beyond invention and disguise, even beyond effort itself. You can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-carrey/that-peace-that-we-re-after-lies-somewhere-beyond-personality-beyond/) [Jim Carrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-carrey/) > [If I had been a different sort of person, maybe less impressionable, less intense, less fearful, less utterly dependent upon the perceptions of others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-hornbacher/if-i-had-been-a-different-sort-of-person-maybe-less-impressionable/) [Marya Hornbacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-hornbacher/) > [One of the best ways of becoming an effective parent—or, for that matter, an effective human being—is to understand the perceptions of other people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-nelsen/one-of-the-best-ways-of-becoming-an-effective-parent-or-for-that/) [Jane Nelsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-nelsen/) ## 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/) [Explore all 352 Wallace Stevens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stevens/) ## More Curiosity quotes > [I'm a strange mixture of my mother's curiosity; my father, who grew up the son of the manse in a Presbyterian family, who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/i-m-a-strange-mixture-of-my-mother-s-curiosity-my-father-who-grew-up/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [“Metal makes everything magical. Just ask a unicorn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sybrina-durant/metal-makes-everything-magical-just-ask-a-unicorn/) [Sybrina Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sybrina-durant/) > [ We have no clear ideas of the agency of \[demonic\] spirits, nor is it necessary. The Scripture says little to satisfy our curiosity; but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/we-have-no-clear-ideas-of-the-agency-of-demonic-spirits-nor-is-it/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [The four Cs of making dreams come true: Curiosity, Courage, Consistency, Confidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-disney/the-four-cs-of-making-dreams-come-true-curiosity-courage-consistency/) [Walt Disney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-disney/) > [Curiosity Can Kill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anison/curiosity-can-kill/) [Anison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anison/) > [“So curious you must be. Like little calves poking their heads through the fence with big eyes and a headful of curiosity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carew-papritz/so-curious-you-must-be-like-little-calves-poking-their-heads-through/) [Carew Papritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carew-papritz/) > [ “\[T\]he question "What is everything?" has no meaning, even though it seems to be profound. \[...\] The point is, perhaps, that I am not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-w-watts/t-he-question-what-is-everything-has-no-meaning-even-though-it-seems/) [Alan W. Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-w-watts/) > [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Be curious not judge mental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unknow/be-curious-not-judge-mental/) Unknow > [There is nothing so carking as the pangs of unsatisfied curiosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-atherton/there-is-nothing-so-carking-as-the-pangs-of-unsatisfied-curiosity/) [Gertrude Atherton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-atherton/) > [Curiosity is the essence of human existence. 'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'... I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/curiosity-is-the-essence-of-human-existence-who-are-we-where-are-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Sometimes curiosity is a poison, not only for those who drink it but for everyone around it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-norman-lippert/sometimes-curiosity-is-a-poison-not-only-for-those-who-drink-it-but/) [G. Norman Lippert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-norman-lippert/) > [As long as your curiosity is greater than your fear, you will move forward!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/as-long-as-your-curiosity-is-greater-than-your-fear-you-will-move/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it sure has earned a lot of people graduate degrees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-irving/curiosity-may-have-killed-the-cat-but-it-sure-has-earned-a-lot-of/) Robyn Irving [Browse all 2,721 Curiosity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curiosity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The people in the world, and the objects in it, and the world as a whole, are not absolute things, but on the contrary, are the phenomena of perception... 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