You know you are truly alive when youβre living among lions.
Isak DinesenRead
through the loveliness and power of her dream world she was now, in her old frock and botched shoes, very likely the loveliest, mightiest and most dangerous person on earth
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the transformative power of dreams and imagination, suggesting that one's inner world can elevate their value and influence, regardless of external circumstances.
Isak Dinesen's quote speaks to the profound impact of dreams and imagination on a person's identity and strength. It suggests that true beauty and power do not stem from physical appearances or societal status, but rather from the richness of one's inner life and aspirations. The imagery of an 'old frock and botched shoes' juxtaposed with 'loveliest, mightiest and most dangerous' indicates that perceived limitations can be transcended through the strength of one's dreams, making them a formidable force in the world.
Themes
DreamsImaginationIdentityPowerBeauty
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about creativity, one might say, 'As Isak Dinesen reminds us, through the loveliness of her dream world, we can become truly powerful.'
More from Isak Dinesen
All quotes βI do not know if you remember the tale of the girl who saves the ship under mutiny by sitting on the powder barrel with her lighted torch... and all the time knowing that it is empty? This has seemed to me a charming image of the women of my time. There they were, keeping the world in order... by sitting on the mystery of life, and knowing themselves that there was no mystery.
Isak DinesenRead
I was young, and by instinct of self-preservation I had to collect my energy on something, if I were not to be whirled away with the dusk on the farm-roads, or the smoke on the plain. I begun in the evenings to write stories, fairy-tales, and romances, that would take my mind a long way off, to other countries and times.
Isak DinesenRead
The lime trees were in bloom. But in the early morning only a faint fragrance drifted through the garden, an airy message, an aromatic echo of the dreams during the short summer night.
Isak DinesenRead
A visitor is a friend, he brings news, good or bad, which is bread to the hungry minds in lonely places. A real friend who comes to the house is a heavenly messenger, who brings the panis angelorum.
Isak DinesenRead
The Cicada sing an endless song in the long grass, smells run along the earth and falling stars run over the sky, like tears over a cheek. You are the privileged person to whom everything is taken. The Kings of Tarshish shall bring gifts.
Isak DinesenRead
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