Ezra Pound: Good

Ezra Pound was American Imagist poet and critic. Explore interesting quotes on good.
Ezra Pound: 136   quotes 17   likes

“If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good.”

Ezra Pound

As quoted after his arrest for treason; see Treason: the story of disloyalty and betrayal in American history http://books.google.com/books?id=lXZKAAAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%9CIf+a+man+isn%27t+willing+to+take+some+risk+for+his+opinions,+either+his+opinions+are+no+good+or+he%27s+no+good%E2%80%9D&dq=%E2%80%9CIf+a+man+isn%27t+willing+to+take+some+risk+for+his+opinions,+either+his+opinions+are+no+good+or+he%27s+no+good%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RgacUteRAZDYoATC1IDYCg&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAjgU by Nathaniel Weyl (1950), p. 400

“Good art however "immoral" is wholly a thing of virtue. Good art can not be immoral. By good art I mean art that bears true witness, I mean the art that is most precise.”

Ezra Pound
Art

“Anyone who is too lazy to master the comparatively small glossary necessary to understand Chaucer deserves to be shut out from the reading of good books forever.”

Ezra Pound book ABC of Reading

Source: ABC of Reading

Books , Understanding , Reading

“Good writers are those who keep the language efficient.”

Ezra Pound book ABC of Reading

Source: ABC of Reading (1934), Chapter 3
Context: Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear.

“The man of understanding can no more sit quiet and resigned while his country lets literature decay than a good doctor could sit quiet and contented while some ignorant child was infecting itself with tuberculosis under the impression that it was merely eating jam tarts.”

Ezra Pound book ABC of Reading

Source: ABC of Reading (1934), p. 33

Literature , Understanding , Country

“With usura hath no man a house of good stone
each block cut smooth and well fitting
[…]
with usura
hath no man a painted paradise on his church wall
[…]
no picture is made to endure nor to live with
but it is made to sell and sell quickly”

Ezra Pound The Cantos

Canto XLV
Regarding usura, in 1972 Pound wrote in the foreword to "Selected Prose, 1909-1965":
<blockquote>"re USURY
I was out of focus, taking a symptom for a cause.
The cause is AVARICE."</blockquote>
The Cantos

Painting , Housing