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Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath Quotes

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Famous Sylvia Plath Quotes

“I do not love; I do not love anybody except myself. That is a rather shocking thing to admit. I have none of the selfless love of my mother. I have none of the plodding, practical love. . . . . I am, to be blunt and concise, in love only with myself, my puny being with its small inadequate breasts and meager, thin talents. I am capable of affection for those who reflect my own world.”

WorldMotherMy OwnTalentCapableAffectionPracticalsBreastsSelflessShockingInadequateBluntSelfless LoveConciseMy Own WorldShocking Things
Book:The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow, the million moving shapes and cul-de-sacs of shadow. There was shadow in bureau drawers and closets and suitcases, and shadow under houses and trees and stones, and shadow at the back of people's eyes and smiles, and shadow, miles and miles and miles of it, on the night side of the earth.”

PeopleWorldEyeEarthBeautifulMovingNightHouseSidesMillionsTreeShapesDepressionShadowStonesMilesBeautiful ThingsClosetsDrawersSuitcasesBell Jar
Book:the bell jar
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“Yes, my consuming desire is to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, barroom regulars - to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording - all this is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always supposedly in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes, God, I want to talk to everybody as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night.”

MenWantI CanFactsAbleLife IsDesireNightGirlInterestSleepWalksDangerFieldsListeningSceneFemaleWestSoldierIntimacyCrewAssaultInvitationsConsumingSailorSpoiledSeducingBatteriesOpen FieldsMisconstrued
Author:Sylvia Plath
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“There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room. It's like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction--every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it's really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and excitement at about a million miles an hour.”

PeopleFeelsPersonsTwoLightHoursRoomsCitiesMillionsCrazyOppositesMilesParisExcitementExtrasHeadingsRushingEvery SecondDemoralizing
Book:the bell jar
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“In a rabbit-fear I may hurl myself under the wheels of the car because the lights terrify me, and under the dark blind death of wheels I will be safe. I am very tired, very banal, very confused. I do not know who I am tonight. I wanted to walk until I dropped and not complete the inevitable circle of coming home.”

KnowsMayHomeLightWantedDarkWalksCarSafeBlindTiredCirclesWho I AmInevitableConfusedWheelsTonightComing HomeRabbits
Book:The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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“I am terrified by this dark thing That sleeps in me; All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity. Clouds pass and disperse. Are those the faces of love, those pale irretrievables? Is it for such I agitate my heart? I am incapable of more knowledge. What is this, this face So murderous in its strangle of branches? - Its snaky acids kiss. It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults That kill, that kill, that kill.”

FeelsHeartFacesDarkSleepMy HeartKissingFaultsCloudsBranchesPaleIncapableTerrifiedAcidMore KnowledgeAgitateDark Things
Book:Ariel: The Restored Edition
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