I tried to think of my knowledge, but it was a squirrel's heap of winter nuts. There was no strength in my knowledge any more and I felt small and naked as a new-hatched bird.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
It is forbidden to go east, but I have gone, forbidden to go on the great river, but I am there. Open your hearts, you spirits, and hear my song.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the bravery of defying rules and following one's own path, inviting others to embrace this spirit of freedom.
In this quote, Stephen Vincent Benet highlights the theme of courage and rebellion against restrictions. The speaker acknowledges that they have ventured into forbidden territories, both literally and metaphorically, suggesting that true fulfillment comes from embracing one's desires and breaking free from societal constraints. The call to 'open your hearts' emphasizes the need for openness and acceptance of individuality, inviting others to join in the pursuit of personal truth and self-expression.
Themes
CourageFreedomRebellionSelf-ExpressionIndividuality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about taking risks in life, this quote could inspire others to pursue their passions.
More from Stephen Vincent Benet
All quotes βGrant us brotherhood, not only for this day but for all our years - a brotherhood not of words but of acts and deeds.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
Our fathers and ourselves sowed dragon's teeth. Our children know and suffer the armed men.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
You can't depend on the kind of folks people think they are - you've got to go by what they do. And I wouldn't give much for a man that some folks hadn't thought was a fool, in his time.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
Go play with the towns you have built of blocks, The towns where you would have bound me! I sleep in my earth like a tired fox, And my bufdfalo have found me.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
We can no longer take our own way of life for granted - we know that it may be challenged. And we know this, too - and know it ever more deeply - we know that freedom and democracy are not just big words mouthed by orators but the rain and the wind and the sun, the air and the light by which we breathe and live.
Stephen Vincent BenetRead
Similar quotes
Come back with your shield - or on it
PlutarchRead
The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!
George S. PattonRead
Naming things, breaking through taboos and denial is the most dangerous, terrifying, and crucial work. This has to happen in spite of political climates or coercions, in spite of careers being won or lost, in spite of the fear of being criticized, outcast, or disliked. I believe freedom begins with naming things. Humanity is preserved by it.
Eve EnslerRead
Continuously, we have to fight to defeat the primitive tendency towards the glorification of arms, the adulation of force, born of the illusion that injustice can be perpetuated by the capacity to kill, or that disputes are necessarily best resolved by resort to violent means.
Nelson MandelaRead
If there be no right of rebellion against a state of things that no savage tribe would endure without resistance, then I am sure that it is better for men to fight and die without right than to live in such a state of right as this.
Roger CasementRead
The terrorists didn't think that Yazidi girls would have the courage to tell the world every detail of what they did to us. We defy them by not letting their crimes go unanswered.
Nadia MuradRead