QuoteProject
As I've gotten older, I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow and to distinguish it from depression.
Robert Bly
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

With age, one can learn to appreciate sorrow as a valuable experience rather than confusing it with depression.

This quote by Robert Bly reflects the idea that maturity brings a deeper understanding of emotions. As individuals grow older, they often learn to recognize the difference between productive sorrow, which can lead to personal growth and insight, and depression, which may hinder their functioning and well-being. This distinction allows for a healthier relationship with one's feelings, enabling a more nuanced approach to life's challenges.

Themes

SorrowDepressionGrowthWisdomMaturity

In practice

Example use cases

In a therapy session discussing emotional growth.

More from Robert Bly

The best poems take long journeys. I like poetry best that journeys--while remaining in the human scale--to the other world, which may be a place as easily overlooked as a bee's wing
Robert BlyRead
I am proud only of those days that pass in undivided tenderness.
Robert BlyRead
My feeling is that poetry is also a healing process, and then when a person tries to write poetry with depth or beauty, he will find himself guided along paths which will heal him, and this is more important, actually, than any of the poetry he writes.
Robert BlyRead
Every part of you that you do not love will regress and become hostile towards you.
Robert BlyRead
The door to the soul is unlocked; you do not need to please the doorkeeper, the door in front of you is yours, intended for you, and the doorkeeper obeys when spoken to.
Robert BlyRead
Don't go outside your house to see flowers. My friend, don't bother with that excursion. Inside your body there are flowers. One flower has a thousand petals. That will do for a place to sit. Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty inside the body and out of it, before gardens and after gardens.
Robert BlyRead

Similar quotes

A little insomnia is not without its value in making us appreciate sleep, in throwing a ray of light upon that darkness.
Marcel ProustRead
Life is too short to be wasted in finding answers. Enjoy the questions.
Paulo CoelhoRead
He who can reach a child's heart can reach the worlds heart.
Rudyard KiplingRead
Meditation has only one meaning, and that is going beyond the mind and becoming a witness. In your witnessing is the miracle - the whole mystery of life
RajneeshRead
My entire life consisted of musings, calculations, practical works, and trials. Many questions remain unanswered; many works are incomplete or unpublished. The most important things still lie ahead.
Konstantin TsiolkovskyRead
A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.
Michel De MontaigneRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.