The writers we absorb when we're young bind us to them, sometimes lightly, sometimes with iron. In time, the bonds fall away, but if you look very closely you can sometimes make out the pale white groove of a faded scar, or the telltale chalky red of old rust.
Interpretation
The writers we encounter in our youth create lasting impacts on us, which may fade but leave a mark.
This quote reflects on the profound influence that literature and authors have on us during our formative years. It illustrates how the stories, ideas, and styles of writing we engage with can create deep connections that shape our identity, perspectives, and emotional landscapes. While these influences may eventually weaken or change over time, they leave an indelible impression that can be identified even years later, akin to a scar or rust that signifies past experiences.
In practice
In a book discussion, to emphasize the lasting impact of childhood reading on personal growth.
Closeness can lead to emotions other than love. It's the ones who have been too intimate with you, lived in too close quarters, seen too much of your pain or envy or, perhaps more than anything, your shame, who, at the crucial moment, can be too easy to cut out, to exile, to expel, to kill off.
You don't need to have kids to write a good book for kids. I don't want my kids to see themselves in my books. Their lives should be their lives.
An article can be timely, topical, engaged in the issues and personalities of the moment; it is likely to be stale within the month. In five years, it may have acquired the quaint aura of a rotary phone. An article is usually Siamese-twinned to its date of birth.
We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It's experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.
Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite for acquiring learning of any kind.
I believe in women. I desire . . . to do those things that would advance women in moral and spiritual, as well as educational work.
A new word is like a fresh seed sown on the ground of the discussion.
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