life is a tragic mystery. We are pierced and driven by laws we only half understand, we find that the lesson we learn again and again is that of accepting heroic helplessness. Florida Scott-Maxwell More Quotes by Florida Scott-Maxwell More Quotes From Florida Scott-Maxwell I want to tell people approaching and perhaps fearing old age that it is a time of discovery. If they say "Of what?" I can only answer "We must find out for ourselves, otherwise it wouldn't be discovery." Florida Scott-Maxwell age discovery people To know another, and to be known by another--that is everything. Florida Scott-Maxwell known knows Anger must be the energy that has not yet found its fight channel. Florida Scott-Maxwell atheism fighting fear Our age is so gregarious that there is at present a marked prejudice against anyone being alone. It is looked down on, and a need to be alone is almost considered a fault, a weakness, as though if one cannot endure - more - enjoy being with other people every minute one is aloof, unreal, and somehow to be pitied. Florida Scott-Maxwell solitude age people Making those we love happy sounds innocent as a dove, but it can be as destructive as a lion. Florida Scott-Maxwell innocent lions sound Order, cleanliness, seemliness make a structure that is half support, half ritual, and - if it does not create it - maintains decency. Florida Scott-Maxwell support doe order as we age we are more alive than seems likely, convenient, or even bearble. Too often our problem is the fervor of life within us. My dear fellow octogenarians, how are we to carry so much life, and what are we to do with it? Florida Scott-Maxwell alive problem age Another secret we carry is that though drab outside - wreckage to the eye, mirrors a mortification - inside we flame with a wild life that is almost incommunicable. Florida Scott-Maxwell flames mirrors eye As I do not live in an age when rustling black skirts billow about me, and I do not carry an ebony stick to strike the floor in sharp rebuke, as this is denied me, I rap out a sentence in my note book and feel better. If a grandmother wants to put her foot down, the only safe place to do it these days is in a note book. Florida Scott-Maxwell grandmother rap book love at any age takes everything you've got. Florida Scott-Maxwell age Difference of opinion has never been sufficiently appreciated. It is the unexpected, the unknowable, the divine irrationality of life that saves us. Florida Scott-Maxwell opinion differences serious Is there any stab as deep as wondering where and how much you failed those you loved. Florida Scott-Maxwell family pain wonder I feel most real when alone, even most alive when alone. Better to say that the liveliness of companionship and the liveliness of solitude differ, and the latter is never as exhausting as the former. Florida Scott-Maxwell alive solitude real Admiration is one of the chief delights of living. Florida Scott-Maxwell chiefs admiration delight One hardly dares to say that love is the core of the relationship, though love is sought for and created in relationship; love is rather the marvel when it is there, but it is not always there, and to know another and to be known by another - that is everything. Florida Scott-Maxwell love-relationship dare love-is In very truth the days are almost free, and if it is another way of saying that our lives are empty, well -- there are days when emptiness is spacious, and non-existence elevating . . . Florida Scott-Maxwell empty emptiness way You need only claim the event of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality. Florida Scott-Maxwell Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to, and it couldn't do it better. Every seed destroys its container or else there would be no fruition. Florida Scott-Maxwell seed better you life It is not easy to be sure that being yourself is worth the trouble, but we do know it is our sacred duty. Florida Scott-Maxwell yourself know duty easy
