All imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in small doses.
Wislawa SzymborskaRead
I slide my arm from under the sleeper's head and it is numb, full of swarming pins, on the tip of each, waiting to be counted, the fallen angels sit.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the painful yet beautiful heaviness of love and connection.
Wislawa Szymborska's quote captures the sensation of moving from a state of intimacy and connection, represented by the 'sleeper', to an awareness of one's bodily experiences, symbolized by the 'numb' arm and 'swarming pins'. It metaphorically describes how moments of closeness can lead to a mix of discomfort and profound realization, akin to fallen angels that embody both beauty and sorrow.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the complexities of romantic relationships.
All imperfection is easier to tolerate if served up in small doses.
I started earning a living as a poet rather early on.
But they know about us, they know, the four corners, and the chairs nearby us. Discerning shadows also know, and even the table keeps quiet.
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems.
I've reached the age of self-knowledge, so I don't know anything. People who claim that they know something are responsible for most of the fuss in the world.
Every beginning is only a sequel, after all, and the book of events is always open halfway through.
I lose and find myself in the long water. I am gathered together once more.
Sentences are not as such either true or false.
Complete adaptation to environment means death. The essential point in all response is the desire to control environment.
The discipline of economics has yet to get over its childish passion for mathematics and for purely theoretical and often highly ideological speculation, at the expense of historical research and collaboration with the other social sciences.
So the idea that there is nothing essential, in the sense that there are no human universals, is dogma. Ask most anyone who is going to be shot at dawn.
It's hard to know when to respond to the seductiveness of the world and when to respond to its challenge. If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
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