I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means it's better to learn one valuable skill from someone who is an expert, like learning how to sing from a bird, rather than trying to teach many people something they are not meant to do, like teaching stars not to dance. The poet is saying it's more important to focus on learning something useful from the right teacher than trying to change things that are not meant to be changed.
About e. e. cummings
E. E. Cummings was an acclaimed American poet, painter, and playwright known for his innovative use of grammar, typography, and language. He wrote around 2,900 poems and is considered one of the most important poets of the 20th century, pioneering modernist free-form poetry with his unique style.
More quotes from e. e. cummings
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At least the Pilgrim Fathers used to shoot Indians: the Pilgrim Children merely punch time clocks.
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Unless you love someone, nothing else makes any sense.
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I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.
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Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.
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I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.
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Kisses are a better fate than wisdom.
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To like an individual because he’s black is just as insulting as to dislike him because he isn’t white.
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America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn’t standing still.
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Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
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Be of love a little more careful than of anything.
American author (1894-1962)
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Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.
American author (1894-1962)
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
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I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.
American author (1894-1962)
The earth laughs in flowers.
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Unbeing dead isn’t being alive.
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I like my body when it is with your body. It is so quite new a thing. Muscles better and nerves more.
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A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man.
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I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
American author (1894-1962)