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I worry hope will crush me, the way love has so many times before. Are they so different, hope and love? O & E in the same place, half of the other in each word. Both swimming in unknowns. I’ve been through the big changes. These ones should seem easier in comparison, I should be more prepared, but they don’t and I’m not. Sometimes I feel like a broken-wing butterfly, clinging to a window screen. Afraid to let go. Afraid to stay. Wondering how much wing is enough to fly.
Erin Morgenstern
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the vulnerability and fear associated with hope and love, highlighting their interconnectedness and the struggle with change.

Erin Morgenstern's quote conveys the complex emotions surrounding hope and love, suggesting that they are intertwined and often lead to pain and uncertainty. The imagery of a 'broken-wing butterfly' symbolizes the fear of embracing change, feeling inadequate to break free, and the struggle of balancing the desire to take risks against the inherent fear of failure. This deep emotional reflection resonates with anyone who has faced the challenges of hope and love, illustrating the delicate balance between courage and fear.

Themes

HopeLoveChangeFearVulnerability

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about overcoming personal struggles.

More from Erin Morgenstern

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Trapped in silence, Marco traces apologies and adorations across Celia's body with his tongue. Mutely expressing all the things he cannot speak aloud. He finds other ways to tell her, his fingers leaving faint trails of ink in their wake. He savors every sound he elicits from her. The entire room trembles as they come together. And though there are a great many fragile objects contained within it, nothing breaks.
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It is perhaps both a blessing and a curse that fictional worlds spring into my mind nearly fully formed and it takes quite a while to sift through everything to find the story.
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Widge can see the past." Poppet says suddenly. "That's why his stories are so good." "The past is easier," Widget says. "It's already there." "In the stars?" Bailey asks. "No." Widget says. "On people. The past stays on you the way powdered sugar stays on fingers. Some people can get rid of it but it's still there, the events and t hings that pushed you to where you are now.
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There is so much that glows in the circus, from flames to lanterns to stars. I have heard the expression “trick of the light” applied to sights within Le Cirque des Reves so frequently that I sometimes suspect the entirety of the circus is itself a complex illusion of illumination” .
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