Imagine a Carthage sown with salt, and all the sowers…
““Imagine a Carthage sown with salt, and all the sowers gone, and the seeds lain however long in the earth, till there rose finally in vegetable profusion leaves and trees of rime and brine. What flowering would there be in such a garden? Light would force each salt calyx to open in prisms, and to fruit heavily with bright globes of water–-peaches and grapes are little more than that, and where the world was salt there would be greater need of slaking. For need can blossom into all the compensations it requires. To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing–-the world will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one’s hair is all but to feel it. So whatever we may lose, very craving gives it back to us again.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
The passage reflects on how longing and scarcity intensify desire, turning absence into a source of fulfillment and meaning.
In simple terms: Longing makes what we lack feel valuable.
Key Takeaway
Embrace desire as a guide to appreciation.
Themes
desire
scarcity
fulfillment
perception
transformation
Mood
contemplative
melancholic
hopeful
Type
literary
philosophical
reflective
When to use this quote
- grief processing
- creative writing
- mindful consumption
- personal growth
Key Concepts
philosophy
psychology
literature
Questions to Reflect On
- What does your longing reveal about your values?
- How can scarcity be transformed into appreciation?
A Different Perspective
Desire can lead to unhealthy obsession if unchecked.