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
Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Focus on what truly matters in life, which often involves patience and the ability to find wonder in the mundane.
This quote by Mary Oliver emphasizes the importance of being present and attentive to what really counts in our lives, particularly our work and the lessons it can teach us. It suggests that a significant part of our journey involves stillness and the capacity to be amazed by the simple beauty around us, encouraging a reflective approach to life.
Themes
WorkAstonishmentMindfulnessLearningStillness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal growth: 'As Mary Oliver once said, let me keep my mind on what matters.'
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.
Mary OliverRead
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
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.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
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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