--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Throw away the light, the definitions…" description: "\"Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/wallace-stevens-846_dark_throw-away-the-light-the-definitions-and_679403.jpg" --- # Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you… ![“Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/wallace-stevens-846_dark_throw-away-the-light-the-definitions-and_679403.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/wallace-stevens-846_dark_throw-away-the-light-the-definitions-and_679403.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a21/wallace-stevens-846_dark_throw-away-the-light-the-definitions-and_679403.jpg) > “Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.” [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. Seeing beyond definitions requires trusting raw perception in darkness. **In simple terms:** Look beyond labels, trust what you truly see. Key Takeaway Embrace intuition over imposed categories. Themes perception truth darkness intuition Mood contemplative poetic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - art critique - personal decision making - spiritual practice - creative writing Key Concepts phenomenology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - When have you trusted your senses over rules? - What risks arise from ignoring definitions? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on intuition can mislead; lack of definitions may cause confusion. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Away Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/away-light-1297149/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Definitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/definitions/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Light Definitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light-definitions-5379011/) [Say Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/say-dark-1047328/) [Throw Away](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/throw-away/) ## Related quotes > [“Young men,” he said “you do not talk like sons of the King. Though it is dark just here, remember it is light somewhere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-l-moody/young-men-he-said-you-do-not-talk-like-sons-of-the-king-though-it-is/) [Dwight L. Moody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-l-moody/) > [I like a person who knows how to say something dark at a very dark moment. 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A lot of people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jlin/i-always-tell-people-that-my-creativity-lies-in-the-belly-of-the/) [Jlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jlin/) > [Out-of-doors there is a greater variety of light than in the studio, where the light is always the same. But that is just the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-auguste-renoir/out-of-doors-there-is-a-greater-variety-of-light-than-in-the-studio/) [Pierre-Auguste Renoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-auguste-renoir/) ## 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 Dark quotes > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [“I could see her will leaving and death seeping through her skin to skewer her soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-stroube/i-could-see-her-will-leaving-and-death-seeping-through-her-skin-to/) [J.D. 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