Give me hunger, pain and want, Shut me out with shame and failure From your doors of gold and fame, Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger! But leave me a little love.
Carl SandburgRead
I cried over beautiful things, knowing no beautiful thing lasts.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the transient nature of beauty and the inevitability of loss.
Carl Sandburg’s quote acknowledges the deep emotional response that beauty evokes in us, coupled with the awareness that all beautiful things are ephemeral. This duality highlights the bittersweet experience of appreciating beauty while recognizing that it cannot last forever, capturing the essence of human emotion in relation to the fleeting nature of life.
Themes
BeautyTransienceLossEmotionEphemeral
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of appreciating life’s moments, one might use this quote to emphasize the fleeting nature of joy.
More from Carl Sandburg
All quotes →Nothing happens... but first a dream.
Carl SandburgRead
Read the dictionary from A to Izzard today. Get a vocabulary. Brush up on your diction. See whether wisdom is just a lot of language.
Carl SandburgRead
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Carl SandburgRead
There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.
Carl SandburgRead
A liar goes in fine clothes, a liar goes in rags, a liar is a liar, clothes or no clothes.
Carl SandburgRead
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