The truth is I am inventing the maybe. I can only make the choices I make, so why torture myself with what I might have done, when all I can handle is what I have done? The Maybe Islands are hostile to human life.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of living in the present and accepting one's choices without regret.
In this quote, Jeanette Winterson reflects on the concept of embracing one's decisions and the futility of contemplating alternate paths that were never taken. By acknowledging that one can only act upon the choices they have made, she urges us to focus on the present reality rather than being tormented by 'what ifs,' suggesting that the pursuit of endless possibilities can be detrimental rather than liberating.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a motivational talk about personal growth.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
In metaphysics, the notion that earth and all that's on it is a mental construct is the product of people who spend their lives inside rooms. It is an indoor philosophy.
The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil water-way leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky--seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.
One must not judge everyone in the world by his qualities as a soldier: otherwise we should have no civilization.
Demands for solidarity can quickly turn into demands for groupthink, making it difficult to express nuance.
One of the troubles of our times is that we are all, I think, precocious as personalities and backward as characters.
He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life.
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