Youth eats all the sugared fancy cakes and regards them as its daily bread. But there'll come a time when you'll start asking just for a crust.
Ivan TurgenevRead
However passionate, sinning, and rebellious the heart hidden in the tomb, the flowers growing over it peep serenely at us with their innocent eyes; they tell us not of eternal peace alone, of that great peace of "indifferent" nature: they tell us, too, of eternal reconciliation and of life without end.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the contrasting nature of life and death, emphasizing reconciliation with the past.
Turgenev's quote illustrates the dichotomy between the passionate, rebellious nature of human emotions and the serene, indifferent beauty of nature. The flowers symbolize life and innocence, suggesting that even in the presence of sin and turmoil, there is a peaceful coexistence and a hopeful message of reconciliation and continuity in life.
Themes
NatureLifeReconciliationPeaceEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could inspire a reflection during a nature retreat as participants contemplate life's challenges.
More from Ivan Turgenev
All quotes →To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.
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So many memories and so little worth remembering, and in front of me - a long, long road without a goal.
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If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.
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Whereas I think: I’m lying here in a haystack... The tiny space I occupy is so infinitesimal in comparison with the rest of space, which I don’t occupy and which has no relation to me. And the period of time in which I’m fated to live is so insignificant beside the eternity in which I haven’t existed and won’t exist... And yet in this atom, this mathematical point, blood is circulating, a brain is working, desiring something... What chaos! What a farce!
Ivan TurgenevRead
Death's an old joke, but each individual encounters it anew.
Ivan TurgenevRead
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