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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.
Mary Oliver
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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

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
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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I'm trying to look at my blessings and how amazingly well against all odds things have turned out for me.
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Since our society equates happiness with youth, we often assume that sorrow, quiet desperation, and hopelessness go hand in hand with getting older. They don't. Emotional pain or numbness are symptoms of living the wrong life, not a long life.
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