Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.
Seamus HeaneyRead
The murder of Sean Brown hurt my soul.
Interpretation
This quote expresses deep sorrow and emotional pain caused by a tragic event.
Seamus Heaney's reflection on the murder of Sean Brown encapsulates the profound impact of violence and loss on an individual's spirit. It conveys how such events resonate deeply within the community and the human experience, highlighting the struggle to comprehend and cope with the devastation caused by senseless acts of brutality.
In practice
In a speech addressing community violence, you might say, 'As Seamus Heaney expressed, the murder of Sean Brown hurt my soul, reminding us of the pain we feel when violence touches our lives.'
Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.
What I've said before, only half in joke, is that everybody in Ireland is famous. Or, maybe better, say everybody is familiar.
The kinds of truth that art gives us many, many times are small truths. They don't have the resonance of an encyclical from the Pope stating an eternal truth, but they partake of the quality of eternity. There is a sort of timeless delight in them.
If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now and then, a stance.
In my early teens, I acquired a kind of representative status: went on behalf of the family to wakes and funerals and so on. And I would be counted on as an adult contributor when it came to farm work - the hay in the summertime, for example.
I think that water is immediately interesting. It's just, as an element, it is full of life. It is associated with origin; it is bright - it reflects you.
Our men and women in uniform make enough sacrifices for our country. Their credit rating should not be one of those sacrifices.
I tried to get into the mind of my opponent and psyche him out.
When danger is far off we may think of our weakness; when it is near we must not forget our strength.
A sound of cornered-animal fear and hate and surrender and defiance . . . like the last sound the treed and shot and falling animal makes as the dogs get him, when he finally doesn't care about anything but himself and his dying.
And if I know anything at all, it's that a wall is just a wall and nothing more at all. It can be broken down.
I could not help reflecting that the bullet which had struck the chestnut [horse] had certainly passed within a foot of my head. So at any rate I had been 'under fire.' That was something.
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