38 quotes
By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.
Gift from the Sea (1955)
When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.
Gift from the Sea (1955)
The feeling of exultant joy that there is anyone like that in the world. I shall never see him again, and he did not notice me, or would ever, but there is such a person alive, there is such a life, and I am here on this earth, in this age, to know it!
Bring Me a Unicorn (1971)
So dazzling was the spread of constellations that it had the impact of a vision, of some hidden insight. I drove home saying to myself: The dead, too, are like this, blazing within us — invisibly.
Marriage is tough, because it is woven of all these various elements, the weak and the strong. "In love-ness" is fragile for it is woven only with the gossamer threads of beauty. It seems to me absurd to talk about "happy" and "unhappy" marriages.
War Within and Without (1980)
Here sits the Unicorn —
In captivity?
In repose.
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
Forgotten the strife;
Now the need to kill
Has died like fire,
And the need to love
Has replaced desire
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
Dream wounds, dream ties
Do not bind him there
In a kingdom where
He is unaware
Of his wounds, of his snare.
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
Dearly beloved — late again!
Dearly Beloved (1962)
He could leap the corral,
If he rose
To his full height;
He could splinter the fencing light,
With three blows
Of his porcelain hoofs in flight —
If he chose.
He could shatter his prison wall,
Could escape them all —
If he rose,
If he chose.
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
I find I am shedding hypocrisy in human relationships. What a rest that will be! The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere. That is why so much of social life is exhausting; one is wearing a mask. I have shed my mask.
Gift from the Sea (1955)
Charles is life itself — pure life, force, like sunlight — and it is for this that I married him and this that holds me to him — caring always, caring desperately what happens to him and whatever he happens to be involved in.
War Within and Without (1980)
Quiet, the Unicorn,
In contemplation stilled,
With acceptance filled;
Quiet, save for his horn;
Alive in his horn;
Horizontally,
In captivity;
Perpendicularly,
Free.
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
I believe most people are aware of periods in their lives when they seem to be "in grace" and other periods when they feel "out of grace," even though they may use different words to describe these states.
Gift from the Sea (1955)
Here sits the Unicorn
In captivity;
His bright invulnerability
Captive at last
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
Here sits the Unicorn;
The wounds in his side
Still bleed
The Unicorn in Captivity (1955)
I have learned by some experience, by many examples, and by the writings of countless others before me, also occupied in the search, that certain environments, certain modes of life, certain rules of conduct are more conducive to inner and outer harmony than others. There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.
Gift from the Sea (1955)
We must relearn to be alone.
Gift from the Sea (1955)