I have an impulse to write all over the orange walls- I need an alphabet of endings ripped out of books, of hands pulled off of clocks, of cold stones, of shoes filled with nothing but wind.
Jandy NelsonRead
All her knowledge is gone now. Everything she ever learned, or heard, or saw. Her particular way of looking at Hamlet or daisies or thinking about love, all her private intricate thoughts, her inconsequential secret musings – they’re gone too. I heard this expression once: Each time someone dies, a library burns. I’m watching it burn right to the ground.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The loss of a person equates to the loss of their unique knowledge and perspectives.
This quote reflects on the profound impact of losing someone, emphasizing that each individual holds a wealth of experiences, thoughts, and interpretations of the world. When someone passes away, their unique insights and knowledge, likened to a library filled with invaluable books, are lost forever, leaving a void that cannot be filled.
Themes
LossKnowledgeMemoryGriefPerspective
In practice
Example use cases
During a memorial service, this quote can be used to emphasize the richness of a person's life.
More from Jandy Nelson
All quotes →Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of peopleMaybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time. Hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, step up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive into the world, as we make things, as we break things.
Jandy NelsonRead
Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath.
Jandy NelsonRead
... if you're someone who knows the worst thing can happen at any time, aren't you also someone who knows the best thing can happen at any time too?
Jandy NelsonRead
It's such a colossal effort not to be haunted by what's lost, but to be enchanted by what was.
Jandy NelsonRead
My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy.
Jandy NelsonRead
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