A broken heart in real life isn't half as dreadful as it is in books. It's a good deal like a bad tooth, though you won't think THAT a very romantic simile. It takes spells of aching and gives you a sleepless night now and then, but between times it lets you enjoy life and dreams and echoes and peanut candy as if there were nothing the matter with it.
Anne always remembered the silvery, peaceful beauty and fragrant calm of that night. It was the last night before sorrow touched her life; and no life is ever quite the same again when once that cold, sanctifying touch has been laid upon it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on a moment of beauty and peace before a significant sorrow, highlighting the lasting impact of such experiences on one's life.
In this quote, Lucy Maud Montgomery captures the essence of a poignant moment in life— the calm and beauty of a night cherished before personal sorrow enters one's existence. It emphasizes how certain experiences, especially those that bring joy or tranquility, can be forever altered by the presence of sorrow, indicating that life is often marked by contrasts between joy and suffering, and once sorrow touches our lives, it changes our perception and experience of happiness.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared at a memorial service to reflect on cherished memories before loss.
More from Lucy Maud Montgomery
All quotes →A house isn't a home without the ineffable contentment of a cat with its tail folded about its feet. A cat gives mystery, charm, suggestion.
Gilbert darling, don't let's ever be afraid of things. It's such dreadful slavery. Let's be daring and adventurous and expectant. Let's dance to meet life and all it can bring to us, even if it brings scads of trouble and typhoid and twins!" (Anne to Gilbert)
Youth is not a vanished thing but something that dwells forever in the heart.
I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.
She had dreamed some brilliant dreams during the past winter and now they lay in the dust around her. In her present mood of self-disgust, she could not immediately begin dreaming again. And she discovered that, while solitude with dreams is glorious, solitude without them has few charms.
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I'm only asking you to stop every so often and turn off your mobile device, put down the Angry Birds and the Words with Friends and take a moment. Stop to look up and look around. Pause and check in with yourself - and spend a moment there.
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To be free is to have achieved your life.