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If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.
Tennessee Williams
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Embracing both our flaws and strengths is essential for a balanced life.

Tennessee Williams suggests that our struggles and imperfections, represented as 'demons', are intrinsically linked to our virtues and positive traits, referenced as 'angels'. To rid oneself of the negative aspects of life may also mean sacrificing the good, as they balance each other and contribute to our overall identity and humanity.

Themes

DemonsAngelsStrugglesImperfectionsBalance

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about embracing one's true self.

More from Tennessee Williams

Maggie, we're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door.
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Time rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.
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Show me a person who hasn´t known any sorrow and I´ll show you a superficial.
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Success and failure are equally disastrous.
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The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die — with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.
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Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
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