That is all the National Parks are about. Use, but do no harm.
Wallace StegnerRead
You married me...but you didn't marry what you could make out of me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the difference between accepting a person as they are versus the potential they hold for growth and change.
Wallace Stegner's quote addresses the complexities of romantic relationships, emphasizing that while one may commit to a partner, they may not fully embrace the potential or evolution that partner can experience over time. It serves as a reminder that true love includes supporting and accepting not just the present self of a loved one, but also their capacity for growth and the changes that life may bring.
Themes
LoveRelationshipsGrowthAcceptanceChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a wedding speech to highlight the importance of growth in marriage.
More from Wallace Stegner
All quotes βTouch. It is touch that is the deadliest enemy of chastity, loyalty, monogamy, gentility with its codes and conventions and restraints. By touch we are betrayed and betray others ... an accidental brushing of shoulders or touching of hands ... hands laid on shoulders in a gesture of comfort that lies like a thief, that takes, not gives, that wants, not offers, that awakes, not pacifies. When one flesh is waiting, there is electricity in the merest contact.
Wallace StegnerRead
Hope was always out ahead of fact, possibility obscured the outlines of reality.
Wallace StegnerRead
Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers.
Wallace StegnerRead
I was shaped by the west and have lived most of my life in it, and nothing would gratify me more than to see it in all its subregions and subcultures both prosperous and environmentally healthy, with a civilization to match its scenery.
Wallace StegnerRead
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus.
Wallace StegnerRead
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What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.
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Being employed is like being loved: you know that somebody's thinking about you the whole time.
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