We aren't the things we collect, acquire, read. We are, for as long as we are here, only love. The things we loved. The people we loved. And these, I think these really do live on.
Gabrielle ZevinRead
On, there are so many lives. How we wish we could live them concurrently instead of one by one by one. We could select the best pieces of each, stringing them together like a strand of pearls. But that's not how it works. A human life is a beautiful mess.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is complex and multifaceted, and we often wish we could experience all its possibilities at once.
In this quote, Gabrielle Zevin reflects on the intricacies of human life, expressing a desire to live multiple lives simultaneously and to pick the best experiences from each. However, she acknowledges the reality that life unfolds in a linear fashion, often chaotic and unpredictable, yet ultimately beautiful in its messiness.
Themes
LifeExperienceBeautyComplexityMessiness
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of life during a philosophy class.
More from Gabrielle Zevin
All quotes →As many have discovered, it is entirely possible (although not particularly desirable) to love two people with all your heart. It is entirely possible to long for two lives, to feel that one life can't come close to containing it all.
Gabrielle ZevinRead
It’s difficult to ever go back to the same places or people. You turn away, even for a moment, and when you turn back around, everything’s changed.
Gabrielle ZevinRead
I wish I could tell you to always follow your heart, but I think it is bad advice. You have a heart, yes, it is true, but also a brain and also a soul. I've come to believe that we love with our brains as much as our hearts. Real Love is not just instinct, but intent...... From year to year, you may not always be the same Jane. This is perfectly normal. A Jane is many Janes in a lifetime.
Gabrielle ZevinRead
There is no difference in quality between a life lived forward and a life lived backwards, she thinks. She had come to love this backward life. It was, after all, the only life she had.
Gabrielle ZevinRead
Similar quotes
They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten.
William GoldingRead
Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.
Joseph CampbellRead
I'm the kind of person who would rather rock in my rocking chair when I'm old and regret a few things that I did than to sit there and regret that I never tried.
Dolly PartonRead
I always thought every day was a gift, but now I am looking for where to send the thank you note.
Randy PauschRead
She worked her toes into the sand, feeling the tiny delicious pain of the friction of tiny chips of silicon against the tender flesh between her toes. That's life. It hurts, it's dirty, and it feels very, very good.
Orson Scott CardRead
I do genuinely believe that young people who play sport at a competitive level, sensibly controlled, sensibly organised, that has to be a good thing. It will teach them to win, it will teach them to lose with dignity and magnanimity - all the things you want. It's a pretty good metaphor for life.
Sebastian CoeRead