--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My ideas are a curse. They spring from a…" description: "\"My ideas are a curse. They spring from a radical discontent with the awful order of things. I play clown. I play carpenter. I play nurse. I play witch...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d7/anne-sexton-645_awful_my-ideas-are-a-curse-they-spring-from-a_3096656.png" --- # My ideas are a curse. They spring from a radical… ![“My ideas are a curse. They spring from a radical discontent with the awful order of things. I play clown. I play carpenter. I play nurse. I play witch.” quote by Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d7/anne-sexton-645_awful_my-ideas-are-a-curse-they-spring-from-a_3096656.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d7/anne-sexton-645_awful_my-ideas-are-a-curse-they-spring-from-a_3096656.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d7/anne-sexton-645_awful_my-ideas-are-a-curse-they-spring-from-a_3096656.png) > “My ideas are a curse. They spring from a radical discontent with the awful order of things. I play clown. I play carpenter. I play nurse. I play witch.” [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creative roles reveal inner turmoil and a desire to break oppressive structures. **In simple terms:** Multiple personas expose inner conflict. Key Takeaway Explore your inner voices. Themes identity creativity rebellion Mood introspective melancholic Type poetic self‑reflective When to use this quote - artistic practice - therapy - personal growth Key Concepts psychology self‑expression Questions to Reflect On - Which role feels most true to you? - How can you integrate these selves? A Different Perspective Adopting many roles may dilute authentic self. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Carpenter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carpenter/) [Clown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clown/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Curse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curse/) [Discontent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discontent/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Nurse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nurse/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Radical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radical/) [Spring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spring/) [Witch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/witch/) ## Related quotes > [The usual dog about the town is much inclined to play the clown.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-usual-dog-about-the-town-is-much-inclined-to-play-the-clown/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's fun to play somebody who has no boundaries or rules. There's no book you can read on how to play a witch, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mila-kunis/it-s-fun-to-play-somebody-who-has-no-boundaries-or-rules-there-s-no/) [Mila Kunis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mila-kunis/) > [A wise man can play the part of a clown, but a clown can't play the part of a wise man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/a-wise-man-can-play-the-part-of-a-clown-but-a-clown-can-t-play-the/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [No, there's other actor who could play The Clown in Slipknot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-crahan/no-there-s-other-actor-who-could-play-the-clown-in-slipknot/) [Shawn Crahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-crahan/) > [Suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know which tools. They never ask why build.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/suicides-have-a-special-language-like-carpenters-they-want-to-know/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Then all this became history. Your hand found mine. Life rushed to my fingers like a blood clot. Oh, my carpenter, the fingers are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/then-all-this-became-history-your-hand-found-mine-life-rushed-to-my/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [But suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know which tools. They never ask why build. Twice I have so simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/but-suicides-have-a-special-language-like-carpenters-they-want-to/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [This, more than anything else, is what I have never understood about your people. 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Like Ares comes the bridegroom, taller far than a tall man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sappho/raise-high-the-roof-beam-carpenters-like-ares-comes-the-bridegroom/) [Sappho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sappho/) > [Even if I wasn't in music, even if my father was a carpenter, some guy in Jamaica would go 'You're just like Bob. You're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ziggy-marley/even-if-i-wasn-t-in-music-even-if-my-father-was-a-carpenter-some-guy/) [Ziggy Marley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ziggy-marley/) > [An axe at home saves hiring a carpenter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/an-axe-at-home-saves-hiring-a-carpenter/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) ## More by Anne Sexton > [Blind with love, my daughter has cried nightly for horses, those long-necked marchers and churners that she has mastered, any and all, reigning them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/blind-with-love-my-daughter-has-cried-nightly-for-horses-those-long/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I am crazy as hell, but I know it. And knowing it is a kind of sanity that makes the sickness worse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-am-crazy-as-hell-but-i-know-it-and-knowing-it-is-a-kind-of-sanity/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [And what of the dead? They lie without shoes in the stone boats. They are more like stone than the sea would be if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/and-what-of-the-dead-they-lie-without-shoes-in-the-stone-boats-they/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [The Witch's Life" When I was a child there was an old woman in our neighborhood whom we called The Witch. All day she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/the-witch-s-life-when-i-was-a-child-there-was-an-old-woman-in-our/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I have forgiven all the old actors for dying. 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Out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-want-to-kiss-god-on-his-nose-and-watch-him-sneeze-and-so-do-you-not/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I, in my brand new body, which was not a woman's yet, told the stars my questions and thought God could really see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-in-my-brand-new-body-which-was-not-a-woman-s-yet-told-the-stars-my/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Father, you died once, salted down at fifty-nine, packed down like a big snow angel, wasn't that enough?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/father-you-died-once-salted-down-at-fifty-nine-packed-down-like-a-big/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/when-i-m-writing-i-know-i-m-doing-the-thing-i-was-born-to-do/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after, like two dolls in a museum case never bothered by diapers or dust, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/cinderella-and-the-prince-lived-they-say-happily-ever-after-like-two/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Quite collected at cocktail parties, meanwhile in my head I'm undergoing open-heart surgery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/quite-collected-at-cocktail-parties-meanwhile-in-my-head-i-m/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I cannot walk an inch / without trying to walk to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-cannot-walk-an-inch-without-trying-to-walk-to-god/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Now that I have written many words, and let out so many loves, for so many, and been altogether what I always was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/now-that-i-have-written-many-words-and-let-out-so-many-loves-for-so/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) [Explore all 428 Anne Sexton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## More Awful quotes > [It must be that I am dreaming, and that I shall awaken in a moment to see that awful knife descending toward my heart-…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-rice-burroughs/it-must-be-that-i-am-dreaming-and-that-i-shall-awaken-in-a-moment-to/) [Edgar Rice Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-rice-burroughs/) > [I spent two years in Palo Alto - what an awful, suffocating place for those of us who don't care about yoga, yogurts and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evgeny-morozov/i-spent-two-years-in-palo-alto-what-an-awful-suffocating-place-for/) [Evgeny Morozov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evgeny-morozov/) > [Layla brought her arms around herself, no doubt because she was remembering the feel of another, stronger set. 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I am heartless. I am scared that these things are actually true.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-am-awful-i-am-heartless-i-am-scared-that-these-things-are-actually/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/democracy-is-an-awful-way-to-run-a-country-but-it-s-the-best-system/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) Browse all 1,826 Awful quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My ideas are a curse. They spring from a radical discontent with the awful order of things. I play clown. I play carpenter. I play nurse. 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