Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.
Peter S. BeagleRead
Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Heroism is often defined by the challenges one faces and overcomes.
This quote suggests that the true measure of a hero lies not only in their accomplishments but also in the hardships and challenges they endure. Great sorrows and burdens enhance the hero's journey, making their achievements more significant and noteworthy, similar to the narrative arc of a fairy tale where struggles lead to triumph.
Themes
HeroismSorrowBurdenGreatnessFairy Tale
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about resilience and personal growth.
More from Peter S. Beagle
All quotes βYour name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name.
Peter S. BeagleRead
You were the one who taught me," he said. "I never looked at you without seeing the sweetness of the way the world goes together, or without sorrow for its spoiling. I became a hero to serve you, and all that is like you.
Peter S. BeagleRead
...because in a way it happened to someone else. I don't really speak that person's language anymore, and when I think about her, she embarrasses me sometimes, but I don't want to forget her, I don't want to pretend she never existed. So before I start forgetting, I have to get down exactly who she was, and exactly how she felt about everything. She was me a lot longer than I've been me so far.
Peter S. BeagleRead
Whatever can die is beautiful β more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?
Peter S. BeagleRead
I feel a whole country growing inside me, thousands of years, millions of people, stupid, crazy, shrewd people, and all of them me. I never felt like that before, I never felt that there was anything inside me, even myself.
Peter S. BeagleRead
Similar quotes
There is something even more valuable to civilization than wisdom, and that is character.
H. L. MenckenRead
If you wouldn't live long, live well; for folly and wickedness shorten life.
Benjamin FranklinRead
Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather.
John D. MacdonaldRead
No great work can be achieved by humbug. It is through love, a passion for truth, and tremendous energy, that all undertakings are accomplished.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Just go with it. It won't hurt.' I stared at him. Adults only ever said that when it, whatever it happened to be, was going to hurt so much.
Neil GaimanRead
The end and aim of spying in all its five varieties is knowledge of the enemy; and this knowledge can only be derived, in the first instance, from the converted spy. Hence it is essential that the converted spy be treated with the utmost liberality.
Sun TzuRead