If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
Only when a tree has fallen can you take the measure of it. It is the same with a man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True understanding and appreciation often come after loss or absence.
This quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh suggests that the full worth of something can often only be recognized after it is no longer present. Just as one can better assess the size of a fallen tree, people's values and contributions may be more fully acknowledged in their absence, prompting reflection on their true impact in life.
Themes
LossAppreciationReflectionImpactUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy to celebrate a loved one's life, this quote highlights the importance of recognizing their impact after they are gone.
More from Anne Morrow Lindbergh
All quotes →When each partner loves so completely that he has forgotten to ask himself whether or not he is loved in return; when he only knows that he loves and is moving to its music--then, and then only are two people able to dance perfectly in tune to the same rhythm.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
It isn't for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for that long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
Travelers are always discoverers, especially those who travel by air. There are no signposts in the sky to show a man has passed that way before. There are no channels marked. The flier breaks each second into new uncharted seas.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
Don't wish me happiness - I don't expect to be happy it's gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
I am most anxious to give my own children enough love and understanding so that they won't grow up with an aching void in them--like you and I and Harold and Martha. That can never be filled, and one goes around all one's life trying, trying to make up for what one didn't get that was one's birthright, asking the wrong people for it.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
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