Each day, and the living of it, has to be a conscious creation in which discipline and order are relieved with some play and pure foolishness.
May SartonRead
I feel like an inadequate machine, a machine that breaks down at crucial moments, grinds to a dreadful hault, 'won't go,' or, even worse, explodes in some innocent person's face.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses feelings of inadequacy and the fear of failing others during critical times.
In this quote, May Sarton illustrates the internal struggle of feeling like a malfunctioning machine, highlighting the anxiety that comes with failure, especially when it impacts others. It speaks to a deep-seated fear of one's own limitations and the consequences they may have, portraying a vivid image of vulnerability and the pressure to perform well under stress.
Themes
InadequacyFailureAnxietyPressureVulnerability
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational talk about overcoming personal struggles, this quote could highlight the importance of resilience.
More from May Sarton
All quotes βPain can make a whole winter bright, like fever, force us to live deep and hard.
May SartonRead
She became for me an island of light, fun, wisdom where I could run with my discoveries and torments and hopes at any time of day and find welcome.
May SartonRead
Wrinkles here and there seem unimportant compared to the Gestalt of the whole person I have become in this past year.
May SartonRead
Here life goes on, even and monotonous on the surface, full of lightning, of summits and of despair, in its depths. We have now arrived at a stage in life so rich in new perceptions that cannot be transmitted to those at another stage - one feels at the same time full of so much gentleness and so much despair - the enigma of this life grows, grows, drowns one and crushes one, then all of a sudden in a supreme moment of light one becomes aware of the sacred.
May SartonRead
I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season, how without grief (it seems) they can let go and go deep into their roots for renewal and sleep.... Imitate the trees. Learn to lose in order to recover, and remember that nothing stays the same for long, not even pain, psychic pain. Sit it out. Let it all pass. Let it go.
May SartonRead
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