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
Emerson, I am trying to live, as you said we must, the examined life. But there are days I wish there was less in my head to examine, not to speak of the busy heart.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggle of introspection versus the desire for simplicity in life.
Mary Oliver expresses the challenge of striving for a thoughtful and reflective existence, as advised by Emerson, while also grappling with the overwhelming thoughts and emotions that accompany such an examination. It highlights the tension between the pursuit of a meaningful life and the burdens that come with deep introspection, suggesting a longing for a quieter mind and heart amidst the complexities of living.
Themes
IntrospectionPhilosophyEmotionsReflectionLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used as a reflection prompt in a yoga class focused on mindfulness.
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
I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.
Barack ObamaRead
The search for total knowledge starts from the Self and finds its fulfillment in coming back to the Self, finding that everything is the expression of the Self - everything is the expression of my own Self.
Maharishi Mahesh YogiRead
If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled just as surely as all other difficulties of like character which have originated in this government have been adjusted.
Abraham LincolnRead
When people begin to ignore human dignity, it will not be long before they begin to ignore human rights.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
To believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous as what we call stars, renders the Christian faith at once little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air.
Thomas PaineRead
Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.
HomerRead