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
The end of life has its own nature, also worth our attention. I don't say this without reckoning in the sorrow, the worry, the many diminishments. But surely it is then that a person's character shines or glooms.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's conclusion reveals the true nature of our character amidst challenges.
Mary Oliver reflects on the significance of the end of life and how it showcases a person's character through their responses to sorrow and loss. She acknowledges the difficulties associated with life's end but emphasizes that such moments are crucial for revealing the essence of who we are, either enhancing our character or highlighting our flaws.
Themes
LifeCharacterSorrowEndNature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a memorial service to highlight the importance of character during difficult times.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes →At 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
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