Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I stir in bed and the memories rise out of me like a buzz of flies from a carcass. I crave to be rid of them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a struggle with haunting memories and a longing for release from them.
In this quote, Barbara Kingsolver reflects on the unpleasant memories that surface unbidden in the mind, comparing them to flies that swarm around a carcass. This vivid imagery evokes a sense of discomfort and desperation to escape from the burdens of the past, highlighting how memories can be intrusive and overwhelming, making one yearn for peace and freedom from these mental traps.
Themes
MemoriesPainPastReleaseStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about coping with trauma, one might use this quote to illustrate the challenges of dealing with painful memories.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
All quotes βChildren can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
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I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
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I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
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