...we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.
Sylvia PlathRead
I do not love; I do not love anybody except myself. That is a rather shocking thing to admit. I have none of the selfless love of my mother. I have none of the plodding, practical love. . . . . I am, to be blunt and concise, in love only with myself, my puny being with its small inadequate breasts and meager, thin talents. I am capable of affection for those who reflect my own world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a deep self-centeredness and a lack of selfless love for others.
In this quote, Sylvia Plath starkly reveals her feelings about love, stating that her affection is predominantly self-directed. She acknowledges her inability to love selflessly like a mother might, emphasizing her introspection and complicated relationship with self-identity. The poignant admission that she is capable of affection mainly for those who mirror her own experiences further highlights her struggle with connection to others.
Themes
Self-LoveSelf-CenteredAffectionIntrospectionIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about self-acceptance at a mental health workshop.
More from Sylvia Plath
All quotes →The hardest thing, I think, is to live richly in the present, without letting it be tainted & spoiled out of fear for the future or regret for a badly-managed past.
Sylvia PlathRead
It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative--which ever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.
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You walked in, laughing, tears welling confused, mingling in your throat. How can you be so many women to so many people, oh you strange girl?
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I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
Sylvia PlathRead
It's the living, the eating, the sleeping that everyone needs. Ideas don't matter so much after all. My three best friends are Catholic. I can't see their beliefs, but I can see the things they love to do on earth. When you come right down to it, I do believe in the freedom of the individual.
Sylvia PlathRead
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