As the clockwork of the millennia moved a notch in front of their eyes, it had taken their thoughts from small things and reminded them of how vulnerable they were to time.
Mark HelprinRead
and even when I was broken the way sometimes one can be broken, and even though I had fallen, I found upon arising that I was stronger than before, that the glories, if I may call them that, which I had loved so much and that had been darkened in my fall, were shinning even brighter and nearly everytime subsequently I have fallen and darkness has come over me, they have obstinately arisen, not as they were, but brighter.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Despite facing difficulties and setbacks, one can emerge stronger and find renewed strength and hope.
This quote captures the essence of resilience and the ability to grow through adversity. It expresses the idea that even after experiencing deep challenges and feelings of being broken, there is a potential for rebirth and illumination that makes the joys and aspirations in life seem even more vibrant. The struggles one faces can become a source of strength, allowing one to rise with a greater understanding and appreciation for life’s beauty, which shines brighter after the darkness.
Themes
ResilienceStrengthAdversityHopeGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
More from Mark Helprin
All quotes →They're not just dreams. Not anymore, I dream more than I wake now, and, at times, I have crossed over. Can't you see? I've been there.
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their powerlessness, innocence, and imagination fused to enable them to turn time inside out, travel on the wind, and enter the souls of animals.
Mark HelprinRead
You’ll join me sooner than you know in a place with . . . no illusions, where the truth is the only architecture, the only color, the only sound--where that which we sense merely on occasion, and which takes us up and gives us the rare and beautiful glimpses of the things we truly love, flows in deep rivers and tumbles about like clouds in the sky.
Mark HelprinRead
Perhaps things are most beautiful when they are not quite real; when you look upon a scene as an outsider, and come to possess it in its entirety and forever; when you live in the present with the lucidity and feeling of memory; when, for want of connection, the world deepens and becomes art.
Mark HelprinRead
The horse could not do without Manhattan. It drew him like a magnet, like a vacuum, like oats, or a mare, or an open, never-ending, tree-lined road.
Mark HelprinRead
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