I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
Love, love, love, says Percy. And hurry as fast as you can along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust. Then, go to sleep. Give up your body heat, your beating heart. Then, trust.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of love and trust in life, encouraging us to embrace life passionately and surrender ourselves to love.
Mary Oliver's quote reflects on the profound nature of love and the vulnerability it entails. By urging us to experience love fully, whether on a beautiful beach or amidst challenges, she points to the necessity of trusting in both the process of loving and the larger journey of life. The imagery of giving up one's body heat and trusting implies a deep personal sacrifice and the courage required to connect genuinely with others.
Themes
LoveTrustLifeVulnerabilitySurrender
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding ceremony, one might quote this to highlight the importance of love and trust in the couple's life together.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes →At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
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I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
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For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
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Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
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