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.
For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of human nature, an understanding of the opponent's psychology.
Even as a youngster, though, I could not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presented danger, the solution was ignorance.
No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.
No one has a prosperity so high and firm that two or three words can't dishearten it.
The mirror of the heart must be clear, so you can discern the ugly from the beautiful.
It is astonishing that so simple a truth should ever have had an adversary; and it is one among a multitude of proofs, how apt a spirit of ill-informed jealousy, or of too great abstraction and refinement is to lead men astray from the plainest paths of reason and conviction.
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