--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We lay our words like tenuous plats…" description: "\"“We lay our words like tenuous plats, build a bridge over its unsinkable depth: Not a sea of longing, but the brack of wanting what’s physical to help ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png" --- # We lay our words like tenuous plats, build a bridge over… ![“We lay our words like tenuous plats, build a bridge over its unsinkable depth: Not a sea of longing, but the brack of wanting what’s physical to help us forget we are physical.” quote by Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png) > ““We lay our words like tenuous plats, build a bridge over its unsinkable depth: Not a sea of longing, but the brack of wanting what’s physical to help us forget we are physical.”” [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote reflects on how language attempts to bridge the gap between physical desire and the desire to forget our physicality, highlighting a tension between longing and materiality. **In simple terms:** Words try to connect physical desire with the wish to ignore it. Key Takeaway Recognize the paradox of seeking physical fulfillment while denying it. Themes desire language philosophy identity paradox Mood thoughtful introspective Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - writing - personal reflection - creative expression Key Concepts existentialism materialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance physical needs with spiritual aspirations? - What role does language play in shaping our perception of the body? A Different Perspective The metaphor may be overly abstract, limiting practical insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Forget Physical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forget-physical-2900444/) [Like Tenuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-tenuous-2900443/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Nostalgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nostalgia/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Tenuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tenuous-462487/) [Tenuous Plats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tenuous-plats-2900442/) ## Related quotes > [When you live for the fight, for the blood, the relationships you form are tenuous and easily broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephenie-meyer/when-you-live-for-the-fight-for-the-blood-the-relationships-you-form/) [Stephenie Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephenie-meyer/) > [“Sanity is tenuous. Tenuous. Comes and goes. Many of the brightest people floating about this planet have only a finger's grip on sanity, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cathy-lamb/sanity-is-tenuous-tenuous-comes-and-goes-many-of-the-brightest-people/) [Cathy Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cathy-lamb/) > [Every relationship is just so tenuous and precarious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-david/every-relationship-is-just-so-tenuous-and-precarious/) [Larry David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-david/) > [“Life suddenly seems tenuous, and it makes me want to really live my life full out and to maximize the value of every moment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-parazynski/life-suddenly-seems-tenuous-and-it-makes-me-want-to-really-live-my/) [Scott Parazynski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-parazynski/) > [“A work of art is...a bridge, however tenuous, between one mind and another.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-harrison/a-work-of-art-is-a-bridge-however-tenuous-between-one-mind-and-another/) [Andrew Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-harrison/) > [The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/the-orgasm-has-replaced-the-cross-as-the-focus-of-longing-and-the/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [“How sad, he thought, that desire found new objects but did not abate, that when it came to longing there was no end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allegra-goodman/how-sad-he-thought-that-desire-found-new-objects-but-did-not-abate/) [Allegra Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allegra-goodman/) > [If we really face our sadness, we find it speaks with the voice of our deepest longing. And if we face it a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kingsley/if-we-really-face-our-sadness-we-find-it-speaks-with-the-voice-of-our/) [Peter Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kingsley/) > [To show a longing for anything that one cannot have, for instance, is not a clever position.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/to-show-a-longing-for-anything-that-one-cannot-have-for-instance-is/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/i-can-negate-everything-of-that-part-of-me-that-lives-on-vague/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/longing-is-like-a-seed-that-wrestles-in-the-ground/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [It (taking photographs) is all about longingwithout longing-no pictures at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anders-petersen/it-taking-photographs-is-all-about-longingwithout-longing-no-pictures/) [Anders Petersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anders-petersen/) > [Could it be in longing we are most ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/could-it-be-in-longing-we-are-most-ourselves/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [“Haunted by the longing to feel something real, deep and magical; I searched for a shared ecstasy... that's when you came along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lebo-grand/haunted-by-the-longing-to-feel-something-real-deep-and-magical-i/) [Lebo Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lebo-grand/) ## More by Cate Marvin > [The fiction writer has a lot of balls to juggle. Setting, pacing, dialogue, and so on. And let's not forget: plot. That was always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/the-fiction-writer-has-a-lot-of-balls-to-juggle-setting-pacing/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [One cannot have "success" in poetry. If I wanted to be successful, I'd have become a lawyer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/one-cannot-have-success-in-poetry-if-i-wanted-to-be-successful-i-d/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [One of the reasons poetry is such an amazing genre to work with is because it constantly reinvents itself and re-negotiates its terms with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/one-of-the-reasons-poetry-is-such-an-amazing-genre-to-work-with-is/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I have no precise idea of who makes up my readership. I'm surprised when I discover people have read my poems at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-have-no-precise-idea-of-who-makes-up-my-readership-i-m-surprised/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [Confessional poetry is, to my mind, more slippery than poems that are sloppily autobiographical; I find the confessional mode much more akin to dramatic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/confessional-poetry-is-to-my-mind-more-slippery-than-poems-that-are/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I do believe that one's writing life needs to be kept separate from Po-Biz. Personally, I deal with this by not attending too many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-do-believe-that-one-s-writing-life-needs-to-be-kept-separate-from/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I place a lot of emphasis on process and revision because I believe that all of my students can become better writers through hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-place-a-lot-of-emphasis-on-process-and-revision-because-i-believe/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [“I think with my blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-think-with-my-blood/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I consider poetry my vocation, not my "career." My career is as a university professor; that's what pays the bills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-consider-poetry-my-vocation-not-my-career-my-career-is-as-a/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I like it when poems are challenging, when they concern matters important and personal to the author.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-like-it-when-poems-are-challenging-when-they-concern-matters/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I find the elitism and blatant provincialism of many (Manhattan-based) New Yorkers unattractive. Just as place can be an identity crutch that helps a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-find-the-elitism-and-blatant-provincialism-of-many-manhattan-based/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I am like a table that eats its own legs off because it’s fallen in love with the floor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-am-like-a-table-that-eats-its-own-legs-off-because-it-s-fallen-in/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [Some poems take two to three years to finish. Rarely, a poem will arrive whole. It's nice when that happens. However, process has become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/some-poems-take-two-to-three-years-to-finish-rarely-a-poem-will/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [I encourage my students to be honest in their assessment of both the published work we read and the work of their classmates. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/i-encourage-my-students-to-be-honest-in-their-assessment-of-both-the/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) > [To think of writing poetry as a "career" is not only ridiculous, it's dangerous. To the imagination. To the way one thinks of art.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/to-think-of-writing-poetry-as-a-career-is-not-only-ridiculous-it-s/) [Cate Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) [Explore all 30 Cate Marvin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/) ## More Longing quotes > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“Haunted by the longing to feel something real, deep and magical; I searched for a shared ecstasy... that's when you came along.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lebo-grand/haunted-by-the-longing-to-feel-something-real-deep-and-magical-i/) [Lebo Grand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lebo-grand/) > [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [Could it be in longing we are most ourselves?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/could-it-be-in-longing-we-are-most-ourselves/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [Tireless passion, fierce jealousy, longing to possess and crush-these alone were left of all his love for Rosalind; these remained to him as payment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/tireless-passion-fierce-jealousy-longing-to-possess-and-crush-these/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [“She pretended not to notice the look of longing in his eyes. It didn’t mean anything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-o-brien/she-pretended-not-to-notice-the-look-of-longing-in-his-eyes-it-didn-t/) [Kevin O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-o-brien/) > [The artist's experience lies so unbelievably close to the sexual, to its pain and its pleasure, that the two phenomena are really just different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/the-artist-s-experience-lies-so-unbelievably-close-to-the-sexual-to/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“My only enemy is the miles of distance that's there between us, my favorite place is the road that leads me to you -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jyoti-patel/my-only-enemy-is-the-miles-of-distance-that-s-there-between-us-my/) [Jyoti Patel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jyoti-patel/) > [The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-sense-that-in-this-universe-we-are-treated-as-strangers-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/but-i-still-has-enough-longing-for-that-concept-that-i-didn-t-want-to/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/do-the-kind-of-things-that-come-from-the-heart-when-you-do-you-won-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“And how do you really feel? Like I'll never recover. Like I'll never draw another breath without half of it being a wish for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-seville/and-how-do-you-really-feel-like-i-ll-never-recover-like-i-ll-never/) [Jane Seville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-seville/) > [The future teachers I try to recruit are those show have refused to let themselves be neutered in this way, either in their private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kozol/the-future-teachers-i-try-to-recruit-are-those-show-have-refused-to/) [Jonathan Kozol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kozol/) > [The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juliet-marillier/the-greatest-tales-well-told-awaken-the-fears-and-longings-of-the/) [Juliet Marillier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juliet-marillier/) [Browse all 2,553 Longing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We lay our words like tenuous plats, build a bridge over its unsinkable depth: Not a sea of longing, but the brack of wanting what’s physical to help us forget we are physical.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cate Marvin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-build-a-bridge-over-its/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Longing" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-build-a-bridge-over-its/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/084/cate-marvin-21032_longing_we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-buil_1914064.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We lay our words like tenuous plats, build a bridge over its unsinkable depth: Not a sea of longing, but the…” — Cate Marvin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Cate Marvin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-marvin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“We lay our words like tenuous...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-build-a-bridge-over-its/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-marvin/we-lay-our-words-like-tenuous-plats-build-a-bridge-over-its/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```