They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.
Edith WhartonRead
For what endless years this life will have to go on! He felt, with a kind of horror, his own strong youth and the bounding blood in his veins.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggle of living with the awareness of time and the persistence of youth amidst the inevitability of life's challenges.
In this quote by Edith Wharton, the speaker grapples with the concept of life stretching on endlessly, conjuring feelings of both horror and vitality. This juxtaposition of the vibrant energy of youth against the daunting passage of time highlights the human experience of contemplating mortality while simultaneously feeling the pulse of life and ambition. It suggests a complex relationship with existence, where youth symbolizes potential and intensity, but also an unsettling awareness of the future.
Themes
LifeYouthTimeExistenceHorror
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a graduation speech to inspire young people to embrace the challenges of life.
More from Edith Wharton
All quotes βThey seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods
Edith WhartonRead
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.
Edith WhartonRead
And I wonder, among all the tangles of this mortal coil, which one contains tighter knots to undo, & consequently suggests more tugging, & pain, & diversified elements of misery, than the marriage tie.
Edith WhartonRead
As he paid the hansom and followed his wife's long train into the house he took refuge in the comforting platitude that the first six months were always the most difficult in marriage. 'After that I suppose we shall have pretty nearly finished rubbing off each otherβs angles,' he reflected; but the worst of it was that May's pressure was already bearing on the very angles whose sharpness he most wanted to keep
Edith WhartonRead
There are two ways to spread happiness; either be the light who shines it or be the mirror who reflects it.
Edith WhartonRead
Similar quotes
You give up your childhood. You miss proms and games and high-school events, and people say it's awful... I say it was a good trade. You miss something but I think I gained more than I lost.
Mary Lou RettonRead
If I had my life to live over again, I would ask that not a thing be changed, but that my eyes be opened wider.
Jules RenardRead
It is not the life that matters, but the journey.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Time and tragedy have forced her to grow too quickly, at least for my taste, into a young woman who stitches bleeding wounds and knows our mother can hear only so much.
Suzanne CollinsRead
One of the very first things I figured out about life...is that it's better to be a hopeful person than a cynical, grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you're hopeful, you have more fun.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Life is beautiful. You have to be thankful that we are living. Wherever you look is beauty. I know about the bad things, but I look for the good things.
Alice Herz-SommerRead