Quotation by

William Butler Yeats

We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry.

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Understanding this quote AI Analysis

When we argue with others, we use language to persuade or win the debate, which is rhetoric. However, when we struggle with our own inner conflicts, that personal reflection becomes the source of poetry.

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A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.