Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.
Interpretation
Being 'Real' comes from genuine love and connection, often accompanied by pain.
This quote reflects the idea that true authenticity ('Realness') in a person or object is achieved through deep emotional connections, particularly through the unconditional love shared between a child and their beloved toy. The Skin Horse emphasizes that while becoming 'Real' may come with emotional pain, it is a worthwhile transformation, as it signifies a deep bond that transcends superficial interactions.
In practice
This quote can be used at a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of deep relationships.
Real isn't how you are made. It's a thing that happens to you. Sometimes it hurts, but when you are Real you don't mind being hurt. It doesn't happen all at once. You become. Once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. Once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.
He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter.
When you are Real, shabbiness doesn't matter.
When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.
Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
The greater good is achieved by not only telling people what they need to know, but also filling them with a sense of empathy and love.
Which of the two powers, Love or Music, can elevate man to the sublimest heights? ... It is a problem, and yet it seems to me that this is the answer: 'Love can give no idea of music; music can give an idea of love.' ... Why separate them? They are two wings of the soul.
Yes, the civilization of love is possible; it is not a utopia. But it is only possible by a constant and ready reference to the "Father from whom all fatherhood and motherhood on earth is named," from whom every human family comes.
If I stopped loving Him, I would cease to believe in His love. If I loved God, then I would believe in His love for me. It's not enough to need it. We have to love first, and I don't know how. But I need it, how I need it.
No man knows till he experiences it, what it is like to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the woman he loves.
You fall in love differently when you are young and far from home in a seductive place. You fall in love with the very air you breathe, and the vivid colours and the unbearably sweet sensation of distance and unaccustomedness.
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