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Quote by Louise Glück

Work

Vita Nova

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Author

Louise Glück
Louise Glück

Louise Glück (born April 22, 1943) is an American poet and essayist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020. Born in New York City to Hungarian Jewish immigrants, she developed a passion for poetry early in life. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University. Glück's poetry is known for its precise, austere language and deep psychological insight, often exploring themes of family, love, death, and nature. Her major works include 'The Wild Iris' (1992), 'The Seven Ages' (2001), and 'Faithful and Virtuous Night' (2014). She has received numerous honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the National Book Award, and served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2003 to 2004. Her works have been translated into many languages and have had a profound impact on contemporary poetry. more

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“What do I mean by “locked in time”? I mean, first of all, that we characteristically view mobile phenomena in immobile terms. We see processes like love and education as established circumstances rather than as complex temporal organisms whose lives depend on regular nourishment and renewal. Conversely, we tend to accept our own fear, weakness and ignorance as chronic disabilities rather than facing them, as we should, with the awareness that they are temporary and surmountable. Like still cameras, our minds consistently convert motion into stasis. In our language about time we resort to rocklike absolutisms – creation, completion, means, end, permanence, annihilation – terms whose static and extreme implications make them poor approximations of history and experience… We have little use at all for that most subtle and suggestive of words, renewal.”

“I sometimes describe conflict as dandelions. At first one pops up—maybe someone says something that rubs you the wrong way, and it’s not such a big deal. It’s a surface issue. No need to spray pesticides. Mow over it, and it’ll go away. Or better yet, ignore it. But then it goes to seed. That’s okay! The seeds are pretty, then they blow away, and your dandelion is gone. Except it isn’t gone; it’s just hiding. Until next spring, when you wake up and your entire yard is full of dandelions. In the book Have a Nice Conflict: How to Find Success and Satisfaction in the Most Unlikely Places, the authors point out that one of the biggest challenges is to learn how to manage a conflict when you’re already firmly entrenched in it.4 So, it’s better to deal with it before you’re firmly entrenched. The best way to get rid of dandelions is to pull out the roots when you first notice them. It’s the same with conflict, which is best resolved when you address it immediately, before it grows roots and spreads.”