...we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.
…* to learn that money makes life smooth in some ways, and to feel how tight and threadbare life is if you have too little. * to despise money, which is a farce, mere paper, and to hate what you have to do for it, and yet to long to have it in order to be free from slaving for it. * to yearn toward art, music, ballet and good books, and get them only in tantalizing snatches.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the paradox of money, illustrating its dual role in providing comfort and causing disdain.
Sylvia Plath's quote expresses the complex relationship individuals have with money. It illustrates how financial resources can ease life's burdens, yet also emphasizes the dissatisfaction and moral conflict tied to the pursuit of wealth. Plath conveys a longing for cultural enrichment, like art and literature, which is often overshadowed by the need for monetary gain, portraying a struggle between the desire for freedom through financial means and the recognition of materialism as a shallow pursuit.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on societal values, one might use this quote to illustrate the contradiction of materialism.
More from Sylvia Plath
All quotes →The hardest thing, I think, is to live richly in the present, without letting it be tainted & spoiled out of fear for the future or regret for a badly-managed past.
It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative--which ever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.
You walked in, laughing, tears welling confused, mingling in your throat. How can you be so many women to so many people, oh you strange girl?
I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
It's the living, the eating, the sleeping that everyone needs. Ideas don't matter so much after all. My three best friends are Catholic. I can't see their beliefs, but I can see the things they love to do on earth. When you come right down to it, I do believe in the freedom of the individual.
Similar quotes
This is where we are at right now, as a whole. No one is left out of the loop. We are experiencing a reality based on a thin veneer of lies and illusions. A world where greed is our God and wisdom is sin, where division is key and unity is fantasy, where the ego-driven cleverness of the mind is praised, rather than the intelligence of the heart.
All joy... emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.
There is no longer a single idea explaining everything, but an infinite number of essences giving a meaning to an infinite number of objects. The world comes to a stop, but also lights up.
As for mother Eve - I wasn't there and can't deny the story, but I will say this. If she brought evil into the world, we men have had the lion's share of keeping it going ever since.
The uniformity and obedience of the media, which any dictator would admire...
The more mechanical becomes the weapons with which we fight, the less mechanical must be the spirit which controls them.