We aren't the things we collect, acquire, read. We are, for as long as we are here, only love. The things we loved. The people we loved. And these, I think these really do live on.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that our true essence is defined by the love we give and receive, rather than material possessions or knowledge.
Gabrielle Zevin's quote suggests that our identity and legacy are shaped not by the possessions we gather or the information we consume, but by the love we share with others. It highlights the enduring impact of love, both for the individuals we care for and the memories we create, suggesting that these connections outlive our physical presence. Ultimately, it serves as a reminder to prioritize meaningful relationships over material achievements.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of relationships, this quote beautifully encapsulates the essence of what it means to be human.
As many have discovered, it is entirely possible (although not particularly desirable) to love two people with all your heart. It is entirely possible to long for two lives, to feel that one life can't come close to containing it all.
On, there are so many lives. How we wish we could live them concurrently instead of one by one by one. We could select the best pieces of each, stringing them together like a strand of pearls. But that's not how it works. A human life is a beautiful mess.
It’s difficult to ever go back to the same places or people. You turn away, even for a moment, and when you turn back around, everything’s changed.
I wish I could tell you to always follow your heart, but I think it is bad advice. You have a heart, yes, it is true, but also a brain and also a soul. I've come to believe that we love with our brains as much as our hearts. Real Love is not just instinct, but intent...... From year to year, you may not always be the same Jane. This is perfectly normal. A Jane is many Janes in a lifetime.
There is no difference in quality between a life lived forward and a life lived backwards, she thinks. She had come to love this backward life. It was, after all, the only life she had.
I felt amazed at the choosing one had to do, over and over a million times daily--choosing love, then choosing it again...how loving and being in love could be so different.
When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.
In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.
You lethargic, waiting upon me, waiting for the fire and I attendant upon you, shaken by your beauty Shaken by your beauty Shaken.
If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.