...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.
Sylvia PlathRead
I feel self-repressed again. The old fall disease. Where is my willpower? The idea of a life gets in the way of my life...I dream too much, work too little.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle between dreams and taking action in life.
Sylvia Plath's quote captures a common internal conflict where an individual's aspirations and dreams hinder their proactive engagement with life. The reference to feeling 'self-repressed' suggests a struggle with inaction, revealing that the lofty ideals and dreams can become barriers to living fully in the present moment. Plath's metaphor of the 'old fall disease' hints at a recurring cycle of disconnection from one's own desires and the frustration that arises when willpower fades.
Themes
Self-RepressionDreamsWillpowerLifeAction
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be shared during a motivational speech about taking action to achieve oneβs dreams.
More from Sylvia Plath
All quotes βThe 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.
Sylvia PlathRead
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.
Sylvia PlathRead
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?
Sylvia PlathRead
I keep wanting to crawl back into the womb.
Sylvia PlathRead
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.
Sylvia PlathRead
Similar quotes
Remember: your bosses prefer to keep you in dependent positions. It is in their interest that you do not become self-reliant, and so they will tend to hoard information. You must secretly work against this and seize this information for yourself.
Robert GreeneRead
However great may be the work for which we are responsible, we will always do well if we pause to spend time in sacred praise.
Charles SpurgeonRead
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo PicassoRead
Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise
Benjamin FranklinRead
It is the courage to be authentic that keeps us strong enough to withstand the heartbreak through which enlightenment can occur. And it is by honoring how life comes through us that we get the most out of living, not by keeping ourselves out of the way. The goal is to mix our hands in the earth, not to stay clean.
Mark NepoRead
She knew the intensity of adolescence, and knew no cure for it except growing up. And then one has age and experience, and mourns the loss of intensity. Maybe it's why musicians and mathmaticians are said to peak young-poetry needs the fire of an unbounded universe.
Sara ParetskyRead