The gift turned inward, unable to be given, becomes a heavy burden, even sometimes a kind of poison. It is as though the flow of life were backed up. May Sarton More Quotes by May Sarton More Quotes From May Sarton The tragic thing about learning from experience is I fear that one can only learn from one's own experience. Other people's - other nations' - experiences simply do not help. They can be imaginatively learned from. But people do not act on other people's experiences. May Sarton experience helping people letters are so much easier than living. One can give one's best. May Sarton easier letters giving A man with a talent does what is expected of him, makes his way, constructs, is an engineer, a composer, a builder of bridges. It's the natural order of things that he construct objects outside himself and his family. The woman who does so is aberrant. We have to expiate for this cursed talent someone handed out to us, by mistake, in the black mystery of genetics. May Sarton mistake men order How much hope, expectation, and sheer hard work goes into the smallest success! There is no being sure of anything except that whatever has been created will change in time. May Sarton smallest hard-work expectations Does one come to enjoy even the hardships that help make one the person one is? Or is it that the past becomes a legend to be remembered with laughter? May Sarton laughter doe past It is dangerous it seems to me for a civilization when there is a complete abyss betewen people in general and the artists. Or is it always so? The poets who are most ardently on the people's side write in such a way that the people cannot see rhyme nor reason to their work. May Sarton artist writing civilization If art is not to be life-enhancing, what is it to be? May Sarton art-is ifs art Deep down there was understanding, not of the facts of our lives so much as of our essential natures. May Sarton essentials understanding facts When we speak of being vulnerable, it suggests being especially vulnerable to pain. People for whom personal dignity and self-sufficiency are everything, do all they can to shut it out. Noli mi tangere. They are well aware that any intimate relationship has pain in it, forces a special kind of awareness, is costly, and so they try to keep themselves unencumbered by shutting pain out as far as it is possible to do so. May Sarton pain intimate-relationships self True gardeners cannot bear a glove Between the sure touch and the tender root. May Sarton gloves garden roots Time unbounded is hard to handle. May Sarton hard-to-handle hard handle When addressed, a Gentleman Cat does not move a muscle. He looks as if he hasn't heard. May Sarton cat gentleman moving A holiday gives one a chance to look backward and forward; to reset oneself by an inner compass. May Sarton environmental holiday giving Fighting dragons is my holy joy. May Sarton dragons fighting joy It feels a long way up and down from zero. May Sarton zero long way So let the world go, but hold fast to joy. May Sarton hold-fast joy world “How does one grow up?” I asked a friend the other day. There was a slight pause; then she answered, “By thinking.” May Sarton growing-up maturity thinking Life comes in clusters, clusters of solitude, then a cluster when there is hardly time to breathe. May Sarton breathe solitude life Old age is not an illness, it is a timeless ascent. As power diminishes, we grow toward the light. May Sarton ascent light age I suppose real old age begins when one looks backward rather than forward May Sarton inspiration real age
