At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle between societal expectations and the desire for freedom and spontaneity.
In this quote, Mary Oliver expresses the internal conflict many face between trying to conform to expected behaviors and the yearning to embrace the wild, carefree aspects of life. She acknowledges the difficulty in suppressing one's natural instincts and desires for spontaneity and fun, suggesting that it is human to wish to reconnect with the unrestrained and vibrant parts of one's self.
Themes
WildFreedomSpontaneityNatureSelf
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about embracing one's true nature.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes →I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
The god of dirt came up to me many times and said so many wise and delectable things, I lay on the grass listening to his dog voice, frog voice; now, he said, and now, and never once mentioned forever from, One or Two Things
Mary OliverRead
Similar quotes
Let's say 'Yes' to life and 'No' to death.
Pope FrancisRead
To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.
Bette DavisRead
Biographies of me have usually been compiled from old newspaper clips, untruthful publicity stories, and reminiscences of people who claim to have known me well.
Shirley TempleRead
Because I grew up in such tight spaces, I don't get manicures, pedicures. I'm not into cars, but I am into a fabulous house. I wanted the spiral staircase, clean sheets on the bed, to be able to take a shower.
Viola DavisRead
I grew up in Detroit. I was a teen father. I lived on welfare for three years. I have a brother serving life in prison, though I believe he's innocent.
Michael Eric DysonRead
Pick the day. Enjoy it - to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come... The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present - and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.
Audrey HepburnRead