The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly.
Richard BachRead
Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Goodbyes are often necessary, but they lead to reunions with friends.
This quote by Richard Bach expresses the importance of farewells in the journey of relationships, particularly friendship. It suggests that although parting can be difficult, it is a part of life that paves the way for future meetings, reaffirming the idea that true friendships can withstand the test of time and distance.
Themes
FarewellFriendsGoodbyesReunionFriendship
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation ceremony, one might use this quote to comfort classmates as they part ways.
More from Richard Bach
All quotes βJonathan Livingston Seagull . . . was no ordinary bird. Most gulls don't bother_x000D_ _x000D_ to learn more than the simplest facts of flight how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this_x000D_ _x000D_ gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else,_x000D_ _x000D_ Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.
Richard BachRead
True love stories never have endings.
Richard BachRead
We wait all these years to find someone who understands us, I thought, someone who accepts us as we are, someone with a wizard's power to melt stone to sunlight, who can bring us happiness in spite of trials, who can face our dragons in the night, who can transform us into the soul we choose to be. Just yesterday I found that magical Someone is the face we see in the mirror: It's us and our homemade masks.
Richard BachRead
From time to time it's fun to close our eyes, and in that dark say to ourselves, 'I am the sorcerer, and when I open my eyes I shall see a world that I have created, and for which I and only I am completely responsible.' Slowly then, eyelids open like curtains lifting stage-center. And sure enough, there's our world, just the way we've built it.
Richard BachRead
If our body is a perfect expression of our thought about body, and if our thought about body is that itβs condition has everything to do with inner image and nothing to do with time, then we donβt have to be impatient for being too young or frightened of being too old.
Richard BachRead
Similar quotes
It is one of the major tragedies that nothing is more discomforting than the hearty affection of the Old Friends who never were friends.
Sinclair LewisRead
As the yellow gold is tried in fire, so the faith of friendship must be seen in adversity.
OvidRead
But sometimes it's like you just meet someone and you just know that you're totally connected, and this person is, like, your brother - or your sister. Even if they don't, like, recognize it, you feel it. And in a lot of ways it don't matter if they do or they don't see that for what it is - all you can do is put the feeling out there. That's your duty. Then you just wait and see what comes back to you. That's the deal.
Zadie SmithRead
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.
Walt WhitmanRead
Here's to us, who's like us Damn few, and they're all dead.
Robert BurnsRead
Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.
George EliotRead