I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away from wherever you are, to look for your soul?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-discovery and the freedom to seek one's true self, without fear of judgment.
In this quote, Mary Oliver poses a rhetorical question that invites reflection on the societal pressures that often deter individuals from exploring their own identities. By suggesting that no one truly cares or chastises us for embarking on a personal journey to find our soul, she encourages us to prioritize our own quest for understanding and authenticity above external opinions.
Themes
Self-DiscoveryIdentitySoulFreedomAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire individuals during a graduation speech, encouraging them to embark on their own journeys.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes βAt the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
Similar quotes
We begin from the recognition that all beings cherish happiness and do not want suffering. It then becomes both morally wrong and pragmatically unwise to pursue only one's own happiness oblivious to the feelings and aspirations of all others who surround us as members of the same human family. The wiser course is to think of others when pursuing our own happiness.
Dalai LamaRead
People like eccentrics. Therefore they will leave me alone, saying that I am a mad clown.
Vaslav NijinskyRead
I cannot agree with those who think of the Bill of Rights as an 18th century straitjacket, unsuited for this age...The evils it guards against are not only old, they are with us now, they exist today.
Hugo BlackRead
The man who leaves money to charity in his will is only giving away what no longer belongs to him
VoltaireRead
This is the kind of balance people expect: both environment and the economy - not one or the other.
Justin TrudeauRead
A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.
Milan KunderaRead