And I want him. I want him in a way that’s different from how I’ve ever wanted anyone before. I want him around me and over me and inside me. But I also want him next to me, and beside me, and with me.
“Now, instead of planting our solitude with our own dream blossoms, we choke the space with continuous music, chatter and companionship to which we do not even listen. It is simply there to fill the vacuum. When the noise stops there is no inner music to take its place. We must re-learn to be alone.”
― Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition
― Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition
“How wonderful are islands! Islands in space, like this one I have come to, ringed about by miles of water, linked by no bridges, no cables, no telephones. An island from the world and the world's life. Islands in time, like this short vacation of mine. The past and the future are cut off; only the present remains. Existence in the present gives island living an extreme vividness and purity. One lives like a child or a saint in the immediacy of here and now. Every day, every act, is an island, washed by time and space, and has an island's completion. People, too, become like islands in such an atmosphere, self-contained, whole, serene; respecting other people's solitude, not intruding on their shores, standing back in reverence before the miracle of another individual.”
― Gift from the Sea
― Gift from the Sea
“The problem is not entirely in finding a room of one's own, the time alone, difficult and necessary as that is. The problem is more how to still the soul in the midst of its activities. In fact, the problem is how to feed the soul.”
― Gift from the Sea
― Gift from the Sea
“Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.”
― Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition
― Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition
“Only when one is connected to one’s own core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be refound through solitude.”
― Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition
― Gift from the Sea: 70th Anniversary Edition
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Melanie’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Melanie’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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