And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
It's so different to be a sparrow. But nobody asked this rat if he wanted to be a rat when he was made. Nobody said, 'Wouldn't you rather be a sparrow?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of existence and the acceptance of one's identity.
Frances Hodgson Burnett's quote highlights the intrinsic differences in life experiences and identities. It suggests that while some beings, like the sparrow, symbolize freedom and beauty, others, like the rat, may feel marginalized and may not have chosen their existence. This contemplation underscores the lack of agency over one's circumstances and invites reflection on the value of every life, regardless of its societal perception.
Themes
IdentityExistenceAcceptanceSelf-AwarenessNature
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about self-acceptance, one might say, 'It's so different to be a sparrow...'
More from Frances Hodgson Burnett
All quotes βAs long as you have a garden you have a future and as long as you have a future you are alive.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that--warm things, kind things, sweet things--help and comfort and laughter--and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
Somehow, something always happens just before things get to the very worst. It is as if Magic did it. If I could only just remember that always. The worse thing never quite comes.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
At that moment a very good thing was happening to her. Four good things had happened to her, in fact, since she came to Misselthwaite Manor. She had felt as if she had understood a robin and that he had understood her; she had run in the wind until her blood had grown warm; she had been healthily hungry for the first time in her life; and she had found out what it was to be sorry for someone.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
Are you learning me by heart, little Sara?" he said, stroking her hair. "No," she answered. "I know you by heart. You are inside my heart.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
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No one has ever become poor by giving.
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There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! Who's been pinching my beer?
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Meditation, then, is not so much a part of this or that particular religion, but rather part of the universal spiritual culture of all humankind--an effort to bring awareness to bear on all aspects of life. It is, in other words, part of what has been called the perennial philosophy.
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We look back, already, with astonishment, at the daring outrages committed by despotism, on the reason and rights of man; we look forward with joy, to the period, when it shall be despoiled of all its usurpations, and bound forever in the chains, with which it had loaded its miserable victims.
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It is always the false that makes you suffer, the false desires and fears, the false values and ideas, the false relationships between people. Abandon the false and you are free of pain; truth makes happy, truth liberates.
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