Blow the candle out, I don't need to see what my thoughts look like.
An entire lifetime would not be long enough for you to exhaust the glance of the young harvest-girl.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The beauty and vitality of youth are boundless and cannot be fully appreciated in a single lifetime.
This quote by Emile Zola reflects on the idea that the vibrancy and allure of youth, symbolized here by the 'young harvest-girl', are profound and ever-expanding. It suggests that one could spend a lifetime trying to understand or appreciate the depth of youthful beauty and essence, yet still find it insufficient. The quote highlights the timeless nature of youth and beauty, as well as the finite capacity of human experience to fully grasp such transcendent qualities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about appreciating life's fleeting moments, one might say, 'An entire lifetime would not be long enough for you to exhaust the glance of the young harvest-girl.'
More from Emile Zola
All quotes βI believe that all is illusion and vanity outside the treasure of truths slowly accumulated, and which will never again be lost. I believe that the sum of these truths, always increasing, will at last confer on man incalculable power and peace, if not happiness. Yes, I believe in the final triumph of life.
A ruined man fell from her hands like a ripe fruit, to lie rotting on the ground.
Oh, the fools, like a lot of good little schoolboys, scared to death of anything they've been taught is wrong!
Did not one spend the first half of one's days in dreams of happiness and the second half in regrets and terrors?
They dared not peer down into their own natures, down into the feverish confusion that filled their minds with a kind of dense, acrid mist.
Similar quotes
I have found life an enjoyable, enchanting, active, and sometime terrifying experience, and I've enjoyed it completely. A lament in one ear, maybe, but always a song in the other.
Dear, don't think of getting out of bed yet. I've always suspected that early rising in early life makes one nervous.
To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle.
Each thing I do, I rush through so I can do something else. In such a way do the days pass - -a blend of stock car racing and the never ending building of a gothic cathedral. Through the windows of my speeding car I see all that I love falling away: books unread, jokes untold, landscapes unvisited.
[T]he normal and the everyday are often amazingly unstoppable, and what is unimaginable is the cessation of them. The world is resilient, and, no matter what interruptions occur, people so badly want to return to their lives and get on with them. A veneer of civilization descends quickly, like a shining rain. Dust is settled.
Things that break - be they bones, hearts, or promises - can be put back together but will never really be whole.