You imagine the carefully pruned, shaped thing that is presented to you is truth. That is just what it isn't. The truth is improbable, the truth is fantastic; it's in what you think is a distorting mirror that you see the truth.
Jean RhysRead
Your red dress,’ she said, and laughed. But I looked at the dress on the floor and it was as if the fire had spread across the room. It was beautiful and it reminded me of something I must do. I will remember I thought. I will remember quite soon now.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The red dress symbolizes beauty and memories that inspire action.
In this quote, the red dress represents not only physical beauty but also serves as a catalyst for reflection and personal motivation. The protagonist's emotional response to the dress evokes a sense of urgency, urging them to remember something significant that needs to be addressed, highlighting the intertwining of beauty, memory, and action in our lives.
Themes
Red DressBeautyMemoryInspirationAction
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about pursuing beauty in life even in difficult times.
More from Jean Rhys
All quotes →If I was bound for hell, let it be hell. No more false heaven. No more damned magic.
Jean RhysRead
The musty smell, the bugs, the lonliness, this room, which is part of the street outside-this is all I want from life.
Jean RhysRead
Yes, I am sad, sad as a circus-lioness, sad as an eagle without wings, sad as a violin with only one string and that one broken, sad as a woman who is growing old. Sad, sad, sad.
Jean RhysRead
My life, which seems so simple and monotonous, is really a complicated affair of cafés where they like me and cafés where they don't, streets that are friendly, streets that aren't, rooms where I might be happy, rooms where I shall never be, looking-glasses I look nice in, looking-glasses I don't, dresses that will be lucky, dresses that won't, and so on.
Jean RhysRead
I must write. If I stop writing my life will have been an abject failure. It is that already to other people. But it could be an abject failure to myself. I will not have earned death.
Jean RhysRead
Similar quotes
Songwriting wasn't my gift. I think you have to cultivate a gift; you have to practice and develop craft around your gift so that you can execute it in more convenient, efficient ways.
Linda RonstadtRead
When Basquiat was hanging out with Madonna and Fab Five Freddy, and all those worlds were colliding, people have to realize hip-hop and the arts were like this 'cause we both were outcasts: we wasn't allowed inside the galleries or inside Yankee Stadium. We were writing in the street and making music.
Jay-ZRead
Self-portraiture is something one should never get involved in, since it is wrong to lie even though one endeavours to tell the truth.
Ingmar BergmanRead
Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.
Pablo PicassoRead
Everything comes out in blues music: joy , pain , struggle . Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance.
Wynton MarsalisRead
The advice I would give to any photographer - young, old or in-between - is to explore anything visual because this is, after all, how you express your artistry. Look at paintings, movies, drawings, sculptures - look at anything visual and try to integrate that into your visual sense. After that, go out and take pictures and keep on taking pictures!
Elliott ErwittRead