I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.
Virginia WoolfRead
I have made up thousands of stories; I have filled innumerable notebooks with phrases to be used when I have found the true story, the one story to which all these phrases refer. But I have never yet found the story. And I begin to ask, Are there stories?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Virginia Woolf reflects on the elusive nature of storytelling and the search for a genuine narrative.
In this quote, Virginia Woolf introspects about her extensive experience in storytelling, where she has created numerous narratives and filled countless notebooks with ideas and phrases. Despite her efforts, she acknowledges an ongoing dissatisfaction in finding a singular, definitive story that encapsulates the essence of all her creativity. This contemplation raises deeper questions about the existence of 'true stories' and the nature of storytelling itself, suggesting that perhaps the act of creating stories is more significant than the stories themselves.
Themes
StorytellingCreativityNarrativeSearchExpression
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a writing workshop to inspire participants to explore the depths of their creative processes.
More from Virginia Woolf
All quotes →Death is woven in with the violets,” said Louis. “Death and again death.”)
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He began to search among the infinite series of impressions which time had laid down, leaf upon leaf, fold upon fold softly, incessantly upon his brain; among scents, sounds; voices, harsh, hollow, sweet; and lights passing, and brooms tapping; and the wash and hush of the sea.
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I want to think quietly, calmly, spaciously, never to be interrupted, never to have to rise from my chair, to slip easily from one thing to another, without any sense of hostility, or obstacle. I want to sink deeper and deeper, away from the surface, with its hard separate facts.
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I do think all good and evil comes from words. I have to tune myself into a good temper with something musical, and I run to a book as a child to its mother.
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London perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play and a story and a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets... To walk alone through London is the greatest rest.
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