It was among farmers and potato diggers and old men in workhouses and beggars at my own door that I found what was beyond these and yet farther beyond that drawingroom poet of my childhood in the expression of love, and grief, and the pain of parting, that are the disclosure of the individual soul.
Interpretation
True emotions and the essence of the soul are found in everyday people rather than in the refined expressions of art or poetry.
Lady Gregory's quote reflects the idea that profound truths about love, grief, and the human experience can be discovered in the lives of ordinary people rather than in the lofty words of poets. She suggests that individual souls express deep anguish and connection through their everyday trials, challenging the notion that beauty and emotion are confined to the elite or artistic circles. This perspective elevates the authenticity of common experiences and emotions as a vital part of human existence.
In practice
This quote can be used to emphasize the importance of valuing human experiences in a community meeting.
Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect, and sacrifice the greater to the less. They love the soil which makes their graves, but have no sympathy with the spirit which may still animate their clay. Patriotism is a maggot in their heads.
This is a great fact: strength is life; weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery, weakness is death.
God made only water, but man made wine.
The books the Holy Spirit is writing are living, and every soul a volume in which the divine author makes a true revelation of his word, explaining it to every heart, unfolding it in every moment.
All freed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.
If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important - if you want to operate on your default-setting - then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying.
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