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.
Virginia WoolfRead
They lack suggestive power. And when a book lacks suggestive power, however hard it hits the surface of the mind it cannot penetrate within.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Books need to provoke thought and emotion to be impactful. Without depth, their influence is superficial.
Virginia Woolf emphasizes the importance of a book's ability to provoke thought and deeper understanding in its readers. When a book merely describes without encouraging reflection or emotional engagement, it fails to make a lasting impact, suggesting that true literary power lies not in the words themselves, but in their capacity to resonate with the reader's inner thoughts and feelings.
Themes
BooksLiteratureImpactThoughtEmotional Engagement
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the influence of modern literature in a classroom setting.
More from Virginia Woolf
All quotes βDeath is woven in with the violets,β said Louis. βDeath and again death.β)
Virginia WoolfRead
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.
Virginia WoolfRead
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.
Virginia WoolfRead
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.
Virginia WoolfRead
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