She knew the intensity of adolescence, and knew no cure for it except growing up. And then one has age and experience, and mourns the loss of intensity. Maybe it's why musicians and mathmaticians are said to peak young-poetry needs the fire of an unbounded universe.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the intensity of youthful experiences and how age brings a bittersweet loss of that intensity.
Sara Paretsky's quote contemplates the deep emotional and creative intensity found in adolescence, suggesting that the only remedy for this intense period is the inevitability of growing older. However, as one matures, there is a sense of mourning for the passionate and unrestrained nature of youth, which is often ideal for creative fields like music and poetry, where a youthful perspective can ignite profound expression and innovation.
In practice
In a graduation speech reflecting on youth and maturity.
The hardest thing about adolescence is that everything seems too big. There's no way to get context or perspective, ..... Pain and joy without limits. No one can live like that forever, so experience finally comes to our rescue. We come to know what we can endure, and also that nothing endures.
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.
Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.
We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.
The sweetest two words in any negotiation are actually, 'That's right.' Before you convince them to see what you're trying to accomplish, you have to say the things to them that will get them to say, 'That's right.'
If an actor knows how to milk a cow, I always know it will not be difficult to be in business with him.
A person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was gitting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn't ever going to grow dim or doubtful.
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