QuoteProject
Life and the world, or whatever we call that which we are and feel, is an astonishing thing. The mist of familiarity obscures from us the wonder of our being. We are struck with admiration at some of its transient modifications, but it is itself the great miracle.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Life is a miraculous experience, often taken for granted, and we occasionally appreciate its beauty.

In this quote, Percy Bysshe Shelley highlights the profound essence of life and existence, urging us to recognize the extraordinary nature of our being. He reflects on how the everyday familiarity can cloud our perception of life's wonders, emphasizing that while we may occasionally admire fleeting moments or changes, the true miracle lies in the very existence of life itself.

Themes

LifeWonderMiracleExistenceAppreciation

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about gratitude, one could use this quote to inspire the audience to appreciate life's wonders.

More from Percy Bysshe Shelley

A dream has power to poison sleep.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
Senseless is the breast and cold _x000D_ _x000D_ Which relenting love would fold;_x000D_ _x000D_ Bloodless are the veins and chill _x000D_ _x000D_ Which the pulse of pain did fill; _x000D_ _x000D_ Every little living nerve _x000D_ _x000D_ That from bitter words did swerve _x000D_ _x000D_ Round the tortur'd lips and brow, _x000D_ _x000D_ Are like sapless leaflets now _x000D_ _x000D_ Frozen upon December's bough.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
A sensitive plant in a garden grew,_x000D_ _x000D_ And the young winds fed it with silver dew,_x000D_ _x000D_ And it opened its fan_x000D_ _x000D_ like leaves to the light,_x000D_ _x000D_ and closed them beneath the kisses of night.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
Ah, woe is me! Winter is come and gone. But grief returns with the revolving year.
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead

Similar quotes

Things looked at patiently from one side after another generally end by showing a side that is beautiful.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Hindustan had become free. Pakistan had become independent soon after its inception but man was still slave in both these countries -- slave of prejudice … slave of religious fanaticism … slave of barbarity and inhumanity.
Saadat Hasan MantoRead
Free speech has been used by the Supreme Court to give immense power to the wealthiest members of our society.
Noam ChomskyRead
Hope is the most sensitive part of a poor wretch's soul; whoever raises it only to torment him is behaving like the executioners in Hell who, they say, incessantly renew old wounds and concentrate their attention on that area of it that is already lacerated.
Marquis De SadeRead
Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
Susan SontagRead
My future is in my past and my past is my present. I must now make the present my future.
Vladimir HorowitzRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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