But always, to her, red and green cabbages were to be jade and burgundy, chrysoprase and prophyry. Life has no weapons against a woman like that.
Edna FerberRead
Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Dwelling on the past can hinder your current experience and connections with others.
In this quote, Edna Ferber emphasizes the importance of staying present rather than fixating on past experiences. By suggesting that living in the past leads to a dull and lonely existence, she illustrates how nostalgia can obscure your vision, causing disconnection from the present and from those around you. The metaphor of straining neck muscles suggests that looking back can make it difficult to engage with the world as it is now, prompting each individual to focus on the future and the opportunities it holds.
Themes
PastPresentMoving OnConnectionLoneliness
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a motivational speech about personal growth.
More from Edna Ferber
All quotes βLife can't defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death.
Edna FerberRead
It's terrible to realize you don't learn how to live until you're ready to die, and then it's too late.
Edna FerberRead
I think in order to write really well and convincingly, one must be somewhat poisoned by emotion, dislike, displeasure, resentment, fault-finding, imagination, passionate remonstrance, a sense of injustice-they all make fine fuel.
Edna FerberRead
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