Quotation by

William Butler Yeats

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

William Butler Yeats means that the characters a great writer creates are essentially expressions of the writer’s own feelings and emotions, personified with names. These characters then act out those inner experiences as if they were real people living in the world.

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All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.