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
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