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There is no stability in this world. Who is to say what meaning there is in anything? Who is to foretell the flight of a word? It is a balloon that sails over tree-tops. To speak of knowledge is futile. All is experiment and adventure. We are forever mixing ourselves with unknown quantities. What is to come? I know not. But, as I put down my glass I remember; I am engaged to be married. I am to dine with my friends tonight. I am Bernard.
Virginia Woolf
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Life is unpredictable and full of uncertainties, yet personal connections ground us.

Virginia Woolf's quote reflects on the inherent instability and unpredictability of life, suggesting that in the face of uncertainty and the inability to understand or predict the future, it is the personal relationships and moments of connection that provide meaning and stability. The speaker grapples with existential questions but finds solace in the simple truths of their identity and immediate experiences, such as being engaged and dining with friends.

Themes

LifeUncertaintyIdentityRelationshipsExperience

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used at a wedding celebration to highlight the importance of love amidst life's unpredictabilities.

More from Virginia Woolf

I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
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He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
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I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
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I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
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London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
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