“Children run away from problems. Children hide. I didn't want to remain a child. I couldn't help but think back to when Olive had rescued me...I could see now that she'd saved me in 1941 precisely because she had known that I was still a child. She could tell that I was not yet someone who was accountable for her own actions...Olive had seen me for what I was - an immature and unformed girl, who could not yet be expected to stand in the painful field of honor. I had needed a wise and caring adult to save me, and Olive had been that champion. She had stood in the field of honor on my behalf. But I had been young then. I wasn't young anymore. I would have to do this myself. But what would an adult - a formed person, a person of honor - do in this circumstance? Face the music, I suppose. Fight her own corner...Forgive somebody perhaps. But how?...British army engineers during the Great War, who used to say: We can do it, whether it can be done or not. Eventually, all of us will be called upon to do the thing that cannot be done. That is the painful field...”
Quote by Elizabeth Gilbert
Book:City of Girls
Work
City of Girls
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: The Thugs & a Courtesan
“no narcissist can survive elderhood”
Source: Poesía no apta para insensibles
Source: Walking the Soul
Source: The Dutch House
Source: By the Shores of Silver Lake
Source: Power of Exponential Mindset for Success and Leadership
Source: Passing On
Source: Advice I Ignored: Stories and Wisdom from a Formerly Depressed Teenager
Source: Rebel
