--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Tinsel in February, tinsel in August…" description: "\"Tinsel in February, tinsel in August. There are things in a man besides his reason.\" — Wallace Stevens" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b45/wallace-stevens-846_august_tinsel-in-february-tinsel-in-august-ther_2182518.jpg" --- # Tinsel in February, tinsel in August. There are things in… ![“Tinsel in February, tinsel in August. There are things in a man besides his reason.” quote by Wallace Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b45/wallace-stevens-846_august_tinsel-in-february-tinsel-in-august-ther_2182518.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b45/wallace-stevens-846_august_tinsel-in-february-tinsel-in-august-ther_2182518.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b45/wallace-stevens-846_august_tinsel-in-february-tinsel-in-august-ther_2182518.jpg) > “Tinsel in February, tinsel in August. There are things in a man besides his reason.” [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. Beyond rational thought, there are irrational, emotional aspects of humanity that persist. **In simple terms:** Emotion lies beyond reason. Key Takeaway Acknowledge irrational human elements. Themes emotion irrationality human nature art Mood poetic thoughtful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing - therapy - personal relationships Key Concepts psychology creative expression existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What irrational forces drive your actions? - How can you honor both reason and feeling? A Different Perspective Rationality alone cannot capture full humanity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [August](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/august/) [August Things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/august-things-4720720/) [February](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/february/) [February Tinsel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/february-tinsel-4720718/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Tinsel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tinsel/) [Tinsel August](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tinsel-august-4720719/) [Tinsel February](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tinsel-february-4720717/) ## Related quotes > [Titles are tinsel, power a corrupter, glorya bubble, and excessive wealth a libel on its possessor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/titles-are-tinsel-power-a-corrupter-glorya-bubble-and-excessive/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [someone had tried to warn me of the kind of catastrophe that is likely to occur when you involve yourself too closely in one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-deasy/someone-had-tried-to-warn-me-of-the-kind-of-catastrophe-that-is/) [Mary Deasy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-deasy/) > [Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It's lighting a fire inside the heart.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/christmas-is-not-in-tinsel-and-lights-and-outward-show-the-secret/) [Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/) > [I fight against the gluttony of time with so many very amusing weapons with gestures and with three attitudes and with charming phrases; with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-branch-cabell/i-fight-against-the-gluttony-of-time-with-so-many-very-amusing/) [James Branch Cabell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-branch-cabell/) > [All great humorists are sad... I cannot help seeing beyond the tinsel of humour, and recognising the pitiful basis of jest - the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/all-great-humorists-are-sad-i-cannot-help-seeing-beyond-the-tinsel-of/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [A life of mere pleasure! A little while, in the spring-time of the senses, in the sunshine of prosperity, in the jubilee of health,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-hubbel-chapin/a-life-of-mere-pleasure-a-little-while-in-the-spring-time-of-the/) [Edwin Hubbel Chapin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-hubbel-chapin/) > [Silent night, holy night, when the bough flies from the tree and is hung everywhere, when from tables the crusts fly, when the gifts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingeborg-bachmann/silent-night-holy-night-when-the-bough-flies-from-the-tree-and-is/) [Ingeborg Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingeborg-bachmann/) > [We expect too much at Christmas. It's got to be magical. It's got to go right. Feasting. Fun. The perfect present. All that anticipation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-brown/we-expect-too-much-at-christmas-it-s-got-to-be-magical-it-s-got-to-go/) [Pam Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-brown/) > [An Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman were invited to a Christmas party. The Englishman brought a bag of tinsel, the Scotsman brought a bag of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-carson/an-englishman-irishman-and-scotsman-were-invited-to-a-christmas-party/) [Frank Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-carson/) > [Tinsel town is full of liars, show-offs and spineless hypocrites.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanushree-dutta/tinsel-town-is-full-of-liars-show-offs-and-spineless-hypocrites/) [Tanushree Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanushree-dutta/) > [There is a frantic race to merchandise tinsel and trash under the guise of 'modernism.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-loewy/there-is-a-frantic-race-to-merchandise-tinsel-and-trash-under-the/) [Raymond Loewy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-loewy/) > [“I believe the message in the hymn “Rise Up, O Men of God” (Hymns, no. 324) is a plea, a call, a divine invitation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-l-millet/i-believe-the-message-in-the-hymn-rise-up-o-men-of-god-hymns-no-324/) [Robert L. Millet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-l-millet/) > [Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you'll find the real tinsel underneath.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-levant/strip-away-the-phony-tinsel-of-hollywood-and-you-ll-find-the-real/) [Oscar Levant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-levant/) > [Go out of the house to see the moon, and 't is mere tinsel; it will not please as when its light shines upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/go-out-of-the-house-to-see-the-moon-and-t-is-mere-tinsel-it-will-not/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In every Christian's Heart, there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-every-christian-s-heart-there-is-a-cross-and-a-throne-and-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## 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 August quotes > [On the McLaughlin Report, August 26, 1990: 'There are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in the middle East, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-buchanan/on-the-mclaughlin-report-august-26-1990-there-are-only-two-groups/) [Pat Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-buchanan/) > [Meanwhile after failing the bar twice, I knew some people in New York and moved here in August '71.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-quine/meanwhile-after-failing-the-bar-twice-i-knew-some-people-in-new-york/) [Robert Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-quine/) > [I had the advantage, that I know Swedish. So I had the Swedish book and I had a lot of English translations, and German…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liv-ullmann/i-had-the-advantage-that-i-know-swedish-so-i-had-the-swedish-book-and/) [Liv Ullmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liv-ullmann/) > [I love the little garden in the back of my family's brownstone in Brooklyn. Digging out there in the dirt is a joy for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/i-love-the-little-garden-in-the-back-of-my-family-s-brownstone-in/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [I can see that I imagine all kinds of rejection that never happens. I can see that I beg and plead for love that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-wurtzel/i-can-see-that-i-imagine-all-kinds-of-rejection-that-never-happens-i/) [Elizabeth Wurtzel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-wurtzel/) > [August depresses me a little. I don't even feel like eating. And when I don't eat, that's a sure sign of stagnation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-scott/august-depresses-me-a-little-i-don-t-even-feel-like-eating-and-when-i/) [Willard Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-scott/) > [August, the summer's last messenger of misery, is a hollow actor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-rollins/august-the-summer-s-last-messenger-of-misery-is-a-hollow-actor/) [Henry Rollins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-rollins/) > [ It \[August 10th 1792\] was the bloodiest day of the Revolution so far, but also one of the most decisive. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-doyle/it-august-10th-1792-was-the-bloodiest-day-of-the-revolution-so-far/) [William Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-doyle/) > [How sociable the garden was. We ate and talked in given light. The children put their toys to grass All the warm wakeful August…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-gunn/how-sociable-the-garden-was-we-ate-and-talked-in-given-light-the/) [Thom Gunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-gunn/) > [It's August, which means Congress is on recess and Mitch McConnell has shimmied back into the ocean to seek a mate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-colbert/it-s-august-which-means-congress-is-on-recess-and-mitch-mcconnell-has/) [Stephen Colbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-colbert/) > [I studied acting in NYU's graduate program, in which we covered everything from Ibsen and Chekov to August Wilson and David Mamet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-holland/i-studied-acting-in-nyu-s-graduate-program-in-which-we-covered/) [Andre Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-holland/) > [There could be oil coming up until August.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-browner/there-could-be-oil-coming-up-until-august/) [Carol Browner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-browner/) > [The 6th of August in the morning we saw an opening in the land and we ran into it, and anchored in 7 and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-dampier/the-6th-of-august-in-the-morning-we-saw-an-opening-in-the-land-and-we/) [William Dampier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-dampier/) > [August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wood-krutch/august-creates-as-she-slumbers-replete-and-satisfied/) [Joseph Wood Krutch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wood-krutch/) > [I left for Petersburg in August, 1871 and stayed there until 1879.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-spitteler/i-left-for-petersburg-in-august-1871-and-stayed-there-until-1879/) [Carl Spitteler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-spitteler/) [Browse all 448 August quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/august/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Tinsel in February, tinsel in August. 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