#symbolism

The girl dreams she is dangerously ill. Suddenly birds come out of her skin and cover her completely ... Swarms of gnats obscure the sun, the moon, and all the stars except one. That one start falls upon the dreamer. ↗

— C.G. Jung

#archetype #children #dreams #psychology #symbolism

We're actors — we're the opposite of people! ↗

— Tom Stoppard

#archetypes #humanity #humor #people #symbolism

When liberals finally grasped the strength of popular feeling about the family, they cried to appropriate the rhetoric and symbolism of family values for their own purposes. ↗

— Christopher Lasch

#appropriate #cried #family #family values #feeling

As a sign of power the hand has a dynamic aspect: it is poised to act and conquer. Open and extended, it symbolizes the opposite of power; the willingness to lay down arms, the proffered hand a greeting, a sign of peace and reconciliation... Hegel called the hand of man 'der beseelte Werkmeister seines Glucks--the inspired maker of his own happiness. It can make happiness to others as well. ↗

— Hugues Boekraad

#hands #philosophy #symbolism #design

What do you think dignity's all about?' The directness of the inquiry did, I admit, take me rather by surprise. 'It's rather a hard thing to explain in a few words, sir,' I said. 'But I suspect it comes down to not removing one's clothing in public. ↗

— Kazuo Ishiguro

#honor #humor #integrity #respect #symbolism

A Blessing Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota, Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian ponies Darken with kindness. They have come gladly out of the willows To welcome my friend and me. We step over the barbed wire into the pasture Where they have been grazing all day, alone. They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness That we have come. They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other. There is no loneliness like theirs. At home once more, They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness. I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms, For she has walked over to me And nuzzled my left hand. She is black and white, Her mane falls wild on her forehead, And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist. Suddenly I realize That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom. ↗

— James Wright

#horses #nature #poetry #symbolism #wright

Trees lose their leaves in blizzards like these. ↗

— Ashly Lorenzana

#depression #despair #hopelessness #leaves #metaphor

There is no single thing... that is so cut and dried that one cannot attend to its secret whisper which says 'I am more than just my appearance'. If each object quivers with readiness to imply something other than itself, if each perception is a word in a poem dense with connotations, then the poet's selection of any given subject of speculation will become... a means of attuning himself to the rhythms and harmonies of reality at large. ... The notion of a network of correspondence is not an outmoded Romantic illusion: it represents a crucial intuition... ↗

— Roger Cardinal

#intuition #perception #poetics #poetry #poets

In many college English courses the words “myth” and “symbol” are given a tremendous charge of significance. You just ain’t no good unless you can see a symbol hiding, like a scared gerbil, under every page. And in many creative writing course the little beasts multiply, the place swarms with them. What does this Mean? What does that Symbolize? What is the Underlying Mythos? Kids come lurching out of such courses with a brain full of gerbils. And they sit down and write a lot of empty pomposity, under the impression that that’s how Melville did it. ↗

— Ursula K. Le Guin

#science

There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum. ↗

— Arthur C. Clarke

#flags #hopeful #symbolism #vacuum #wave