I've always had a compassion for characters in novels - the sense that they are, whatever they might think, living in a world that has a shape they don't know and can't finally alter.
John CrowleyRead
She had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl's wings and talons and became other than conscious.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the profound beauty and fulfillment found in one's dreams and imagination.
In this quote, John Crowley captures the essence of a person who finds true joy and fulfillment in their dreams, suggesting that the experiences within one's mind can be more pleasurable than reality itself. The imagery evokes a sense of wonder about the transition from wakefulness to the dream state, where the individual can freely explore and transcend the confines of their conscious existence.
Themes
DreamsImaginationLifePleasureConsciousness
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about following one's passions and dreams.
More from John Crowley
All quotes →Just as a lamp waved in darkness creates a figure of light in the air, which remains for as long as the lamp repeats its motion exactly, so the universe retains its shape by repetition: the universe is Time's body. And how will we perceive this body? And how operate on it?
John CrowleyRead
Similar quotes
Your life is right now! It's not later! It's not in that time of retirement. It's not when the lover gets here. It's not when you've moved into the new house. It's not when you get the better job. Your life is right now. It will always be right now. You might as well decide to start enjoying your life right now, because it's not ever going to get better than right now-until it gets better right now!
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We wandered in a frenzy and a dream (301).
Jack KerouacRead
Death, but not for you, gunslinger. Never for you. You darkle. You tinct. May I be brutally frank? You go on.
Stephen KingRead
The lesson, I suppose, is that none of us have much control over how we will be remembered. Every life is an amalgam, and it is impossible to know what moments, what foibles, what charms will come to define us once we're gone. All we can do is live our lives fully, be authentically ourselves and trust that the right things about us, the best and most fitting things, will echo in the memories of us that endure.
Alice McdermottRead
Why do we protect children from life? It's no wonder that we become afraid to live. We're not told what life really is. We're not told that life is joy and wonder and magic and even rapture, if you can get involved enough. We're not told that life is also pain, misery, despair, unhappiness, and tears. I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss any of it. I want to embrace life, and I want to find out what it's all about. I wouldn't want to go through life without knowing what it is to cry.
Leo BuscagliaRead
Sometimes...it's better for a man just to walk away. But if you can't walk away? I guess that's when it's tough.
Arthur MillerRead