Healing for me is being able to sit next to the butcher and say 'Yes, I’m sitting next to the butcher now,' instead of saying 'there is no butcher'.
Tori AmosRead
From in the shadow she calls. And in the shadow she finds a way, finds a way. And in the shadow she crawls, clutching her faded photograph. My image under her thumb. Yes with a message for my heart. She’s been everybody else’s girl maybe one day she’ll be her own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggle of identity and self-discovery amidst external expectations.
In this quote, Tori Amos expresses the journey of a woman who has been defined by her relationships with others, symbolized by the 'shadow' under which she operates. The imagery of her 'faded photograph' suggests a longing for authenticity and self-ownership, emphasizing that while she has been perceived as belonging to others, there remains the hope that one day she will claim herself and her identity as her own.
Themes
IdentitySelf-DiscoveryLoveRelationshipsAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
During a book club discussion on self-identity and relationships, this quote can prompt a deeper conversation.
More from Tori Amos
All quotes →When you stop putting yourself on the line, and you don't touch your own heart, how do you expect to touch other people?
Tori AmosRead
If you can't create physical life, you find a life force. If that's in music, that's in music. I started to find this deep, primitive rhythm, and I started to move to it. And I held hands with sorrow, and I danced with her, and we giggled a bit.
Tori AmosRead
I don't want to sit on the sidelines and not value the gift of being here. Instead of the idea of time ticking away, the grains of sand running out, I try to think of time as giving me another grain of sand, another gift. So time passing is an accumulation, rather than a diminishing.
Tori AmosRead
I don't mind a dirty girl. But what I find tragic is when we, as women, become not the subject of our own story but someone else's object.
Tori AmosRead
For many years, I shut down that place inside myself that needed to rage, cry, ask questions and basically just express herself. I made a conscious choice when I put (the song) 'Me and a Gun' on the record not to stay a victim anymore.
Tori AmosRead
Similar quotes
People who are obsessed with Jesus give freely and openly without censure. Obsessed people love those who hate them and who can never love them back.
Francis ChanRead
And suddenly all your troubles melt away, all your worries are gone, and it is for no reason other than the look in your partner's eyes. Yes, sometimes life and love really is that simple.
William WordsworthRead
God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.
Max LucadoRead
When you are very old, and sit in the candle - light at evening spinning by the fire, you will say, as you murmur my verses, a wonder in your eyes, 'Ronsard sang of me in the days when I was fair.
Pierre De RonsardRead
Love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can't stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they'll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That's love, you see. It is redemptive.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
All for love, and nothing for reward.
Edmund SpenserRead