Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.
Peter S. BeagleRead
All lives are composed of two basic elements," the squirrel said, "purpose and poetry. By being ourselves, squirrel and raven, we fulfill the first requirement, you in flight and I in my tree. But there is poetry in the meanest of lives, and if we leave it unsought we leave ourselves unrealized. A life without food, without shelter, without love, a life lived in the rain—this is nothing beside a life without poetry.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that a meaningful life is made up of both purpose and the appreciation of beauty.
In this quote, Peter S. Beagle emphasizes the importance of both living with purpose and recognizing the inherent beauty in life, no matter how humble. He suggests that without poetry – the artistic and expressive elements of existence – our lives can feel unfulfilled, asserting that even the most basic life can have profound meaning if we seek out its poetic aspects.
Themes
PurposePoetryLifeMeaningBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about finding beauty in everyday life.
More from Peter S. Beagle
All quotes →Your name is a golden bell hung in my heart. I would break my body to pieces to call you once by your name.
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You were the one who taught me," he said. "I never looked at you without seeing the sweetness of the way the world goes together, or without sorrow for its spoiling. I became a hero to serve you, and all that is like you.
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...because in a way it happened to someone else. I don't really speak that person's language anymore, and when I think about her, she embarrasses me sometimes, but I don't want to forget her, I don't want to pretend she never existed. So before I start forgetting, I have to get down exactly who she was, and exactly how she felt about everything. She was me a lot longer than I've been me so far.
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Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?
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I feel a whole country growing inside me, thousands of years, millions of people, stupid, crazy, shrewd people, and all of them me. I never felt like that before, I never felt that there was anything inside me, even myself.
Peter S. BeagleRead
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