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You can look at the words on this paper and, because they are the ones I am used to choosing, they will show you the shape of me. I am here to be read in the way you might read the impression of my weight in a bed after a still night, a restless night, a night not alone.
A.L. Kennedy
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the idea that our expressions and choices reveal our true selves.

A.L. Kennedy's quote suggests that the words a person chooses serve as a representation of their identity and experiences. Just as the impression left on a bed indicates the presence and state of a person, the language we use carries the weight of our thoughts and emotions, offering insight into who we are and how we perceive the world.

Themes

IdentityExpressionSelfWordsPerception

In practice

Example use cases

In a poetry reading, this quote could highlight how personal experiences shape a writer's work.

More from A.L. Kennedy

Write. No amount of self-inflicted misery, altered states, black pullovers or being publicly obnoxious will ever add up to your being a writer. Writers write. On you go.
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Remember you love writing. It wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.
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Read. As much as you can. As deeply and widely and nourishingly and ­irritatingly as you can. And the good things will make you remember them, so you won't need to take notes.
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