Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth?
Lillian HellmanRead
I'm too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker feels a sense of regret and self-blame due to their age and narrow mindset.
This quote expresses a poignant introspection about aging and the heaviness of past mistakes. The speaker's admission of being 'too old to recover' suggests a feeling of resignation to their life choices, while 'too narrow to forgive myself' points to a lack of self-compassion, indicating an internal struggle with guilt and the difficulty of letting go of past grievances.
Themes
RegretForgivenessAgingSelf-BlameIntrospection
In practice
Example use cases
During a reflective discussion on life choices at a gathering.
More from Lillian Hellman
All quotes βIf I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
Lillian HellmanRead
It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it.
Lillian HellmanRead
If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The end is inevitable from the beginning. But if you believe that man can solve his own problems and is at nobody's mercy, then you will probably write melodrama.
Lillian HellmanRead
Nobody knows what you want except you. And nobody will be as sorry as you if you don't get it. Wanting some other way to live is proof enough of deserving it. Having it is hard work, but not having it is sheer hell.
Lillian HellmanRead
Failure in the theater is more dramatic and uglier than any other form of writing. It costs so much, you feel so guilty.
Lillian HellmanRead
Similar quotes
Perfect can't possibly be the goal, we're left with generous, important and human instead.
Seth GodinRead
Desperate times breed desperate measures
William ShakespeareRead
I say there're no depressed words just depressed minds.
Bob DylanRead
A real writer learns from earlier writers the way a boy learns from an apple orchard -- by stealing what he has a taste for, and can carry off
Archibald MacleishRead
The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature.
Shunryu SuzukiRead
I am who I am and I say what I think. I'm not putting a face on for the record.
EminemRead