Bless you, my darling, and remember you are always in the heart - oh tucked so close there is no chance of escape - of your sister.
Katherine MansfieldRead
It's a terrible thing to be alone - yes it is - it is - but don't lower your mask until you have another mask prepared beneath - as terrible as you like - but a mask.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being alone can be difficult, but one should be cautious about revealing one's true self until they are ready.
Katherine Mansfield's quote emphasizes the emotional complexity of loneliness and the protective nature of wearing a 'mask' to shield oneself from vulnerability. It suggests that while being alone can feel terrible, it is essential to maintain some facade until one is equipped to show their true self to others, recognizing the challenge of intimacy and the necessity of emotional preparation in relationships.
Themes
LonelinessMaskRelationshipsVulnerabilitySelf-Protection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the challenges of opening up in friendships.
More from Katherine Mansfield
All quotes →What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly, by a feeling of bliss - absolute bliss - as though you'd suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and it burned in your bosom, sending out a little shower of sparks into every particle into every finger and toe?
Katherine MansfieldRead
What do you want most to do? That's what I have to keep asking myself, in the face of difficulties.
Katherine MansfieldRead
Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.
Katherine MansfieldRead
I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming.
Katherine MansfieldRead
This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment.
Katherine MansfieldRead
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