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
And over one more set of hills, along the sea, the last roses have opened their factories of sweetness and are giving it back to the world. If I had another life I would want to spend it all on some unstinting happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the beauty of life and the longing for a life filled with happiness and joy.
Mary Oliver's quote illustrates her appreciation for the natural beauty surrounding her and expresses a deep desire for a life devoted to happiness. She likens the blooming roses to a source of sweetness that enriches the world, emphasizing the importance of seeking and valuing happiness in our lives, suggesting that if given another chance at life, her focus would solely be on cultivating that joy.
Themes
HappinessBeautyLifeJoyNature
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about pursuing joy in life.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes βAt 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
Similar quotes
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
Happiness is the most important thing in the world, without it, you live a life of depression.
Marilyn MonroeRead
Happiness," said he, "must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty.
Samuel JohnsonRead
Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.
Omar KhayyamRead
The happy man needs nothing and no one. Not that he holds himself aloof, for indeed he is in harmony with everything and everyone; everything is "in him"; nothing can happen to him. The same may also be said for the contemplative person; he needs himself alone; he lacks nothing.
Josef PieperRead
When I lay my head on the pillow at night I can say I was a decent person today. That's when I feel beautiful.
Drew BarrymoreRead