Quest is at the heart of what I do-the holy grail, and the terror that you'll never find it, seemed a perfect metaphor for life.
Interpretation
The pursuit of goals and dreams is essential to life, filled with both hope and fear of never achieving them.
In this quote, Jeanette Winterson reflects on the metaphor of life as a quest, likening the search for meaning or fulfillment to the pursuit of the 'holy grail.' This encapsulates the dual nature of human experience, where the drive to seek out our passions is accompanied by a fear of not succeeding, suggesting that both the journey and the challenges we face are integral to our existence.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a motivational speech about pursuing dreams.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
Everything you cherish_x000D_ _x000D_ Throws you over in the end_x000D_ _x000D_ Thorns will grab your ankles_x000D_ _x000D_ From the gardens that you tend.
It was like Percy had faced death before, like he knew about grief. What mattered was listening. You didn’t need to say you were sorry. The only thing that helped was moving on—moving forward.
On my tombstone they will carve, "IT NEVER GOT FAST ENOUGH FOR ME.
Women piece together their lives from the scraps left over for them.
I remember nothing of this, no ambulance rides, nothing. Nothing between switching out the bedside lamp and the sudden indignity of rebirth: the slaps, the brightness, the tubing, the speed, the urgent insistence that I be choked back into breathing life. I have felt so sorry for babies ever since.
I’ve lived every day to the fullest, and I’ve had a marvelous time. I’ve tried to be nice to the people I care about, and ignore the ones I don’t. I enjoy what I’ve done.
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