“Man is an imagining being.”

Source: La poétique de la rêverie (The Poetics of Reverie) (1960), Ch. 2, sect. 10

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Man is an imagining being." by Gaston Bachelard?
Gaston Bachelard photo
Gaston Bachelard 35
French writer and philosopher 1884–1962

Related quotes

Jules Verne photo

“Man is so constituted that health is a purely negative state. Hunger once satisfied, it is difficult for a man to imagine the horrors of starvation; they cannot be understood without being felt.”

L’homme est ainsi fait, que sa santé est un effet purement négatif; une fois le besoin de manger satisfait, on se figure difficilement les horreurs de la faim; il faut les éprouver, pour les comprendre.
Source: Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Ch. XLII: Headlong speed upward through the horrors of darkness

Lynne Truss photo

“Manners are about imagination, ultimately. They are about imagining being the other person.”

Lynne Truss (1955) British writer

Source: Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door

Richard Feynman photo

“The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.”

Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American theoretical physicist

The Value of Science (1955)

William Blake photo

“But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

Letter to Revd. Dr. Trusler (1799)
Context: To the Eyes of a Miser a Guinea is more beautiful than the Sun & and a bag worn with the use of Money has more beautiful proportions than a Vine filled with Grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the Eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers..

Clive Staples Lewis photo

“The imagined beings have their insides on the outside; they are visible souls. And Man as a whole, Man pitted against the universe, have we seen him at all till we see that he is like a hero in a fairy tale?”

Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) Christian apologist, novelist, and Medievalist

Source: Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, p. 89
Context: But why,' (some ask), 'why, if you have a serious comment to make on the real life of men, must you do it by talking about a phantasmagoric never-never land of your own?' Because, I take it, one of the main things the author wants to say is that the real life of men is of that mythical and heroic quality. One can see the principle at work in his characterization. Much that in a realistic work would be done by 'character delineation' is here done simply by making the character an elf, a dwarf, or a hobbit. The imagined beings have their insides on the outside; they are visible souls. And Man as a whole, Man pitted against the universe, have we seen him at all till we see that he is like a hero in a fairy tale?

David Brin photo

“It was better to imagine a sacrifice being for something.”

Source: Startide Rising (1983), Chapter 51 (p. 269)

Muhammad Ali quote: “The man with no imagination has no wings.”
Muhammad Ali photo

“The man with no imagination has no wings.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist
Mark Twain photo

“Man - a figment of God's imagination.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Imre Kertész photo
Lin Yutang photo

Related topics