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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a desire for freedom and playfulness despite constraints.
In this quote, Benet reflects on the themes of creativity and the self-imposed boundaries that can stifle one's true nature. The imagery of towns built from blocks symbolizes limitations and societal expectations, while the reference to sleep and a tired fox suggests a longing for rest and the natural world's acceptance, ultimately revealing a desire for liberation and self-discovery through imaginative play.
Themes
CreativityFreedomPlayfulnessImaginationSelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about creative expression, you could use this quote to encourage individuals to embrace their creative sides.
More from Stephen Vincent Benet
All quotes →Grant 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
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.
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
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
When people ask me if I am a feminist film maker, I reply I am a woman and I also make films.
Chantal AkermanRead
Right now a moment of time is fleeting by! Capture its reality in paint! To do that we must put all else out of our minds. We must become that moment, make ourselves a sensitive recording plate...Give the image of what we actually see, forgetting everything that has been seen before our time.
Paul CezanneRead
Film’s thought of as a director’s medium because the director creates the end product that appears on the screen. It’s that stupid auteur theory again, that the director is the author of the film. But what does the director shoot-the telephone book? Writers became much more important when sound came in, but they’ve had to put up a valiant fight to get the credit they deserve.
Billy WilderRead
People don't remember me for how high my legs went, even though they went up very high, and how many pirouettes I did. They don't remember me for that. They remember me and any other dancer because something touched them inside. It's an indelible memory on the heart and in the mind.
Judith JamisonRead
Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them. I don't quite mean they're my best friends but they made me feel a mixture of shame and awe.
Diane ArbusRead
As a writer, I tend to be drawn to marginal people - writers, poet-prophets, seers, eccentrics - who embody the deeper ambivalences of their societies and bear deeper witness to their world than the famous figures we are used to celebrating, or demonizing, in our histories.
Pankaj MishraRead