I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
Virginia WoolfRead
One has to secrete a jelly in which to slip quotations down people's throats - and one always secretes too much jelly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that conveying ideas often requires embellishment, which can lead to excess.
Virginia Woolf's quote reflects the notion that in order to communicate effectively, complex ideas must often be made more palatable or appealing to the audience, likened to using jelly to help quotations go down smoothly. However, this process can result in over-complicating or diluting the original message, leading to a situation where too much 'jelly' detracts from the essence of the words being shared.
Themes
CommunicationIdeasQuotationsExpressionEmbellishment
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a conference might use this quote to emphasize the importance of clarity over embellishment.
More from Virginia Woolf
All quotes →Death is woven in with the violets,” said Louis. “Death and again death.”)
Virginia WoolfRead
He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
Virginia WoolfRead
I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
Virginia WoolfRead
I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
Virginia WoolfRead
London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
Virginia WoolfRead
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