Snippets of Wisdom
“There is no doubt that solitude is a challenge and to maintain balance within it a precarious business. But I must not forget that, for me, being with people or even with one beloved person for any length of time without solitude is even worse. I lose my center. I feel dispersed, scattered, in pieces. I must have time alone in which to mull over my encounter, and to extract its juice, its essence, to understand what has really happened to me as a consequence of it.”
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
The word quodophile is not in the dictionary. Yet, along with thousands of others, I am a quodophile, a lifetime collector of quotes. Ursula K. Le Guin wrote, "If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you’re fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you’re reading a whole new book.” The same holds true for quotes, although sometimes quotes and books can evoke the same feelings as they did many years prior. After finishing this blog post, I found another quote from Sarton in my quote journal from 1985, scribbled when I was twenty-seven years old - and yes, I clearly I still feel this way thirty-seven years later!
“I am here alone for the first time in weeks, to take up my ‘real’ life again at last. That is what is strange - that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is alone time to explore and discover what is happening or has happened. Without the interruptions, nourishing and maddening, this life would become arid. Yet I taste it fully only when I am alone here…”
- May Sarton writing in journal upon returning to her New Hampshire farmhouse
Why do I collect quotes? Quotes teach me something I did not know or provide a new perspective on knowledge. They provide a context for feelings deep inside of me that I find difficult put into words. They introduce me to new ideas, concepts, or ways of being. They reveal emotions. They help me realize I am not alone. Quotes offer snippets of wisdom.
Last week I wrote that I am escaping to my island home at the end of the month to hibernate. I shared that something inside of me is changing. While much that I hold dear still resonates, there is a feeling of something new that I need to explore. I will spend my time reflecting and writing, and as always, exploring quotes pulling at my heartstrings. I thought you might also like to reflect on some of these pearls of wisdom. Below are some quotes I will be thinking about.
The ‘end’ can be a new beginning
“It’s easy to fixate on everything that goes to ground as time goes by: the disintegration of a relationship, the disappearance of good work well-done, the diminishment of a sense of purpose and meaning… But, as I’ve come to understand, life ‘composts’ and ‘seeds’ us as autumn does the earth, I’ve seen how possibility gets planted in us even in the most difficult of times.”
- Parker J. Palmer
Seeing yourself as complete
“I think — as we get older, you come into some true ownership. I think when you’re young, you’re inclined to believe — invited to believe that, yet you couldn’t have done anything significant enough to own an identity, a point of view. And then you get to a point when you’re just like, - well, I think I’m basically who I am now.”
- Joe Henry, singer-songwriter, On Being interview
Regrets, I’ve had a few
“I’ve made many mistakes and often failed to live up to my aspirations, but I don’t need to look back with regret. Instead, I can see all of my mess-ups as humus or compost for the growing I needed to do. I love the fact that the word “humus” is related to “humility.” The good I do today may well have its roots in something not so good I did in the past. Knowing that takes me beyond both the sinkhole of regret and the hot-air balloon of pride. Regret shuts life down. Humility opens it up.”
- Parker J. Palmer, Meaning Changes As Life Unfolds, On Being
The river runs in the valley
"Everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but up there the air is so thin, you can hardly breathe — and all you can do is stand still and try not to fall. But in the valley, that's where the river runs, sweetheart. That's where all the power is."
- Glennon Doyle, The Gift That Comes from Hitting Rock Bottom
Forgiveness is about finding peace within myself
“Forgiveness is for me and not for him. It is a way to release the pain in my own heart, not a condoning or an acceptance of his wrongs. But I couldn’t find my way there then, though I understand those words better now. I’m still not there.”
- Author unknown
Unselfing ourselves
“Somewhere along the way, in the century of the self, we forgot each other. We forgot this vast and wonder-filled universe, of which we are each but a tiny and transient wonder. There must be another way — a way to unself just enough to remember each other, to grow a little more awake to this world that shimmers with wonder.”
- Maria Popova, The Marginalian
Are you a quodophile? Are there quotes pulling at your heartstrings at this stage of your life? If you have any that might resonate as we paddle north together, please share them in the comments below. I’m sure some of you, like me, are always looking for quotes to reflect on!