Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.
Zelda FitzgeraldRead
There seemed to be some heavenly support beneath his shoulder blades that lifted his feet from the ground in ecstatic suspension, as if he secretly enjoyed the ability to fly but was walking as a compromise to convention.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the tension between one's inner desires and societal expectations.
Zelda Fitzgerald's quote captures a profound sense of liberation that comes from embracing one's true self, suggesting that while one may conform to societal norms by walking, there exists an underlying joy and freedom akin to flying. It speaks to the struggle individuals face when balancing their authentic selves with the demands of convention, emphasizing the idea that true fulfillment often lies in recognizing and nurturing our inner capacities, even when we appear to conform outwardly.
Themes
FreedomConventionSelfJoyDesire
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about following one's dreams despite societal pressures.
More from Zelda Fitzgerald
All quotes →She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring.
Zelda FitzgeraldRead
The night you gave me my birthday party... you were a young Lieutenant and I was a fragrant phantom, wasn't I? And it was a radiant night, a night of soft conspiracy and the trees agreed that it was all going to be for the best.
Zelda FitzgeraldRead
A southern moon is a sodden moon, and sultry. When it swamps the fields and the rustling sandy roads and the sticky honeysuckle hedges in its sweet stagnation, your fight to hold on to reality is like a protestation against a first waft of ether.
Zelda FitzgeraldRead
I remember every single spot of light that ever gouged a shadow beside your bones.
Zelda FitzgeraldRead
And, Joey, if you ever want to know about the japonicas and the daisy fields it will be alright that you have forgotten because I will be able to tell you about how it felt to be feeling that way you cannot quite remember – that will be for the time when something happens years from now that reminds you of now.
Zelda FitzgeraldRead
Similar quotes
It was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to become heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting word -- on the contrary, he persistently bore insult from others and thus put an end to the fray.
EpictetusRead
In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep you are not. And when you are filled with sleep, you never were. I don't know what I am. I don't know if I am or not.
William FaulknerRead
The basis of democratic freedom is freedom of speech.
Aung San Suu KyiRead
Sometimes I remind myself that I almost skipped the party, that I almost went to a different college, that the whim of a minute could have changed everything and everyone. Our lives, so settled, so specific, are built on happenstance.
Anna QuindlenRead
Fear? What has a man to do with fear? Chance rules our lives, and the future is all unknown. Best live as we may, from day to day.
SophoclesRead
My idea of our civilization is that it is a shoddy, poor thing and full of cruelties, vanities, arrogances, meannesses and hypocrisies.
Mark TwainRead