There, by the starlit fences The wanderer halts and hears My soul that lingers sighing About the glimmering weirs.
A. E. HousmanRead
The troubles of our proud and angry dust are from eternity, and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's struggles are enduring, and while we can bear them, it's essential to face them head-on.
A. E. Housman's quote reflects on the persistent nature of human troubles, suggesting that they are an inherent part of existence. It emphasizes the idea that despite life's challenges—symbolized by the 'proud and angry dust'—we possess the strength to endure and face our burdens, encouraging an attitude of acceptance and resilience in the face of adversity.
Themes
EnduranceAdversityResilienceLifeStruggles
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech to inspire young athletes facing defeat.
More from A. E. Housman
All quotes →Who made the world I cannot tell; 'Tis made, and here am I in hell. My hand, though now my knuckles bleed, I never soiled with such a deed.
A. E. HousmanRead
I am not a pessimist but a pejorist (as George Eliot said she was not an optimist but a meliorist); and that philosophy is founded on my observation of the world, not on anything so trivial and irrelevant as personal history.
A. E. HousmanRead
Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
A. E. HousmanRead
And malt does more than Milton can to justify God's ways to man.
A. E. HousmanRead
Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking_x000D_ _x000D_ Spins the heavy world around.
A. E. HousmanRead
Similar quotes
Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.
Bill GatesRead
What a strange thing man is; and what a stranger thing woman.
Lord ByronRead
Like the appearance of silver in mother of pearl, the world seems real until the Self, the underlying reality, is realized.
Adi ShankaraRead
The easier an experience, or the more entrenched, or the more familiar, the fainter our sensation of it becomes. This is true of chocolate and marriages and hometowns and narrative structures. Complexities wane, miracles become unremarkable, and if we're not careful, pretty soon we're gazing out at our lives as if through a burlap sack.
Anthony DoerrRead
The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?
George OrwellRead
Go, speed the stars of Thought On to their shining goals; - The sower scatters broad his seed, The wheat thou strew'st be souls.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead