They miss the whisper that runs any day in your mind, "Who are you really, wanderer?"-- and the answer you have to give no matter how dark and cold the world around you is: "Maybe I'm a king.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes self-discovery and the importance of personal identity amidst life's challenges.
This quote by William Stafford invites deep introspection and challenges individuals to reflect on their true selves, regardless of external circumstances. It suggests that everyone has the potential for greatness and nobility, even in times of despair, highlighting the power of personal identity in navigating lifeβs adversities.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
The things you do not have to say make you rich. Saying things you do not have to say weakens your talk. Hearing things you do not need to hear dulls your hearing. And things you know before you hear them β those are you, those are why you are in the world.
A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
So, the world happens twice--_x000D_ once what we see it as;_x000D_ second it legends itself_x000D_ deep, the way it is.
The earth says have a place, be what that place_x000D_ requires; hear the sound the birds imply_x000D_ and see as deep as ridges go behind_x000D_ each other.
A sentimentalist is simply one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it.
The penalty may be removed, the crime is eternal.
My case is a species of madness, only that it is a derangement of the Volition, and not of the intellectual faculties.
There is no fundamental difference in the ways of thinking of primitive and civilized man. A close connection between race and personality has never been established.
To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living.
Churchgoers feel righteous, responsible, and obedient to God's will. They view anyone unlike themselves as devoid of values, and therefore unworthy of God's love. By denying God to all those who have strayed from the path of righteousness, the devout are unwittingly taking on themselves a role that belongs only to God.
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