You know the old adage: Plant an expectation, reap a disappointment.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
One of these poems I wrote after having been here only a month. The other, I wrote this morning. In the space between the two poems, I have found acres of grace
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the growth and transformation an artist experiences over time.
Elizabeth Gilbert's quote highlights the profound journey of creative expression, emphasizing how time and experience can lead to significant artistic development. From the initial poem, created shortly after arriving in a new place, to the one written after a month of exploration, she illustrates how the 'acres of grace' found in that span represent the depth and richness that can emerge from conscious engagement with one’s surroundings and inner self.
Themes
CreativityGrowthTransformationArtisticExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop about creative writing, this quote could inspire participants to reflect on their growth.
More from Elizabeth Gilbert
All quotes →Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
I had always been taught that the pursuit of happiness was my natural (even national) birthright. It is the emotional trademark of my culture to seek happiness. Not just any kind of happiness, either, but profound happiness, even soaring happiness. And what could possibly bring a person more soaring happiness than romantic love.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
When I tried this morning, after an hour or so of unhappy thinking, to dip back into my meditation, I took a new idea with me: compassion. I asked my heart if it could please infuse my soul with a more generous perspective on my mind's workings. Instead of thinking that I was a failure, could I perhaps accept that I am only a human being--and a normal one, at that?
Elizabeth GilbertRead
And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt - this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty to find something beautiful within life no matter how slight.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilling yearnings.
Elizabeth GilbertRead
Similar quotes
You have to be careful about over-politicizing the utterances of people of colour because, oftentimes, there's poetry that seeks to go beyond that narrative.
Kehinde WileyRead
A creative mess is better than idle tidiness.
Michael J. FoxRead
When I was growing up, there weren't that many queer girls of colour making music. So I just wanted to be able to exist, just to be that, without putting too much emphasis on it.
Arlo ParksRead
Time gives growth, it gives continuity and it gives change. And in the case of some sculptures, time gives a patina to them.
Andy GoldsworthyRead
I feel that I want to use light as this wonderful and magic elixir that we drink as Vitamin D through the skin - and I mean, we are literally light-eaters - to then affect the way that we see.
James TurrellRead
I personally made a decision many years ago that I wanted to crawl into portraiture because it had a lot of latitude.
Annie LeibovitzRead