I'm not a bit changed - not really. I'm only just pruned down and branched out. The real me - back here - is just the same.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the idea that personal growth doesn't change one's core self, but rather refines and expands it.
Lucy Maud Montgomery's quote expresses the notion that while one may go through changes and growth in life, the essential self remains intact. Being 'pruned down' suggests removing extraneous traits or experiences that no longer serve us, while 'branched out' signifies the exploration of new aspects, ultimately leading to a fuller realization of one's true identity. This highlights the beauty of personal evolution without losing the core essence of who we are.
In practice
During a life coaching session to emphasize the continuous journey of self-improvement.
A broken heart in real life isn't half as dreadful as it is in books. It's a good deal like a bad tooth, though you won't think THAT a very romantic simile. It takes spells of aching and gives you a sleepless night now and then, but between times it lets you enjoy life and dreams and echoes and peanut candy as if there were nothing the matter with it.
A house isn't a home without the ineffable contentment of a cat with its tail folded about its feet. A cat gives mystery, charm, suggestion.
Gilbert darling, don't let's ever be afraid of things. It's such dreadful slavery. Let's be daring and adventurous and expectant. Let's dance to meet life and all it can bring to us, even if it brings scads of trouble and typhoid and twins!" (Anne to Gilbert)
Youth is not a vanished thing but something that dwells forever in the heart.
I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.
She had dreamed some brilliant dreams during the past winter and now they lay in the dust around her. In her present mood of self-disgust, she could not immediately begin dreaming again. And she discovered that, while solitude with dreams is glorious, solitude without them has few charms.
She went from opera, park, assembly, play,_x000D_ _x000D_ To morning walks, and prayers three hours a day._x000D_ _x000D_ To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea,_x000D_ _x000D_ To muse, and spill her solitary tea,_x000D_ _x000D_ Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon,_x000D_ _x000D_ Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon.
When we are young, we are slavishly employed in procuring something whereby we may live comfortably when we grow old; and when we are old, we perceive it is too late to live as we proposed.
When our time's up, it's up. All the money in the world won't buy you one more day.
I just have a great life. I know great people. I've had great relationships - all different kinds of relationships. I am so lucky to be on the little golden path that led me to all this.
There won't be any biographies of me because, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken yard do not make exciting copy.
People look with sympathetic eyes only at the blossom and the fruit, and disregard the long period of transition during which the one is ripening into the other.
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