Quest is at the heart of what I do-the holy grail, and the terror that you'll never find it, seemed a perfect metaphor for life.
Interpretation
The pursuit of goals and dreams is essential to life, filled with both hope and fear of never achieving them.
In this quote, Jeanette Winterson reflects on the metaphor of life as a quest, likening the search for meaning or fulfillment to the pursuit of the 'holy grail.' This encapsulates the dual nature of human experience, where the drive to seek out our passions is accompanied by a fear of not succeeding, suggesting that both the journey and the challenges we face are integral to our existence.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a motivational speech about pursuing dreams.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed.
Life is - the way God has given it to me was just a platter - a golden platter of life laid out there for me. It's been beautiful.
I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which, was that you can fail at what you don't want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love
Life is a series of commas, not periods.
A truce to philosophy!βLife is before me, and I rush into possession. Hope, glory, love, and blameless ambition are my guides, and my soul knows no dread. What has been, though sweet, is gone; the present is good only because it is about to change, and the to come is all my own.
Living your best life is your most important journey in life.
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