Things are sweeter when they're lost. I know--because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.
Interpretation
Desiring something can make it seem more valuable than it is, and obtaining it may lead to disappointment.
This quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects the notion that the anticipation of wanting something can often be more intense and fulfilling than actually attaining it. Once our desires are fulfilled, the reality may not live up to the expectations, leading to a sense of loss and disillusionment, as the value we placed on it diminishes in the face of reality.
In practice
During a motivational speech about understanding the nature of desires.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Good thoughts are no better than good dreams if you don't follow through.
The people who say: 'You are what you eat' have always seemed addled to me. In my opinion, you are what you think, and if you don't think, you can eat all the meat in Kansas City and still be nothing but a vegetable.
This book, conceived in sorrow, composed in grief, and constructed at the brink of despair, contains my mind's best thoughts, and my soul's triumph over the powers of darkness.
. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .
Only as one is willing to give up his present limitations and identity can he become that which he desires to be.
At 46 one must be a miser; only have time for essentials.
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