The writer catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind.
Vita Sackville-WestRead
Is it better to be extremely ambitious, or rather modest? Probably the latter is safer; but I hate safety, and would rather fail gloriously than dingily succeed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a preference for bold ambition over modest success, emphasizing that a glorious failure is more desirable than a mediocre achievement.
Vita Sackville-West articulates a fundamental tension between ambition and safety in this quote. She suggests that being extremely ambitious can lead to greater risks but also to more significant and fulfilling outcomes, even if they end in failure. In contrast, being modest in one's aspirations might lead to safer successes, but these may lack the excitement and passion that come from pursuing oneβs grander dreams. Ultimately, she expresses a preference for living boldly and taking chances, valuing the pursuit of glory over the comfort of safety.
Themes
AmbitionSafetyFailureSuccessGlory
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire a team during a brainstorming session to pursue bold ideas.
More from Vita Sackville-West
All quotes βI loved you when love was Spring, and May, Loved you when summer deepened into June, and now when autumn yellows all the leaves.
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Gardening is a luxury occupation: an ornament, not a necessity, of life.... Fortunate gardener, who may preoccupy himself solely with beauty in these difficult and ugly days! He is one of the few people left in this distressful world to carry on the tradition of elegance and charm. A useless member of society, considered in terms of economics, he must not be denied his rightful place. He deserves to share it, however humbly, with the painter and poet.
Vita Sackville-WestRead
The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.
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It is a sad moment when the first phlox appears. It is the amber light indicating the end of the great burst of early summer and suggesting that we must now start looking forward to autumn. Not that I have any objection to autumn as a season, full of its own beauty; but I just cannot bear to see another summer go, and I recoil from what the first hint of autumn means.
Vita Sackville-WestRead
There is nothing more lovely in life than the union of two people whose love for one another has grown through the years, from the small acorn of passion, into a great rooted tree
Vita Sackville-WestRead
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