--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her…" description: "\"“Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her kind, but her imagination rushed out to the beauties of the visible world; and the decaying majesty of Allfr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png" --- # Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her kind, but her… ![“Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her kind, but her imagination rushed out to the beauties of the visible world; and the decaying majesty of Allfriars moved her strangely.” quote by Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png) > ““Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her kind, but her imagination rushed out to the beauties of the visible world; and the decaying majesty of Allfriars moved her strangely.”” [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The protagonist’s timid openness contrasts with a vivid imagination, revealing tension between inner sensitivity and external beauty. **In simple terms:** She is shy but imagines beautiful things. Key Takeaway Balance inner shyness with outward curiosity. Themes sensitivity imagination beauty inner conflict growth Mood thoughtful melancholic observational Type literary descriptive psychological When to use this quote - first encounters - creative inspiration - personal growth - social gatherings Key Concepts artistic perception emotional development social observation Questions to Reflect On - How does imagination help cope with shyness? - What draws us to external beauty? A Different Perspective The quote may romanticize melancholy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Kind Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind-imagination-1788739/) [Moved Strangely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moved-strangely-1788737/) [Slowly Timidly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slowly-timidly-1788736/) [Timidly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/timidly-1534018/) [Timidly Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/timidly-kind-1788738/) ## Related quotes > [There was always that kind of imagination in our house, which was always a little crazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-micucci/there-was-always-that-kind-of-imagination-in-our-house-which-was/) [Kate Micucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-micucci/) > [I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-grew-up-in-a-desert-which-has-no-kind-of-imagination/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [“That kind of imagination is why we're not dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-mckinsey/that-kind-of-imagination-is-why-we-re-not-dead/) [Rebecca McKinsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-mckinsey/) > [Who timidly requests invites refusal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/who-timidly-requests-invites-refusal/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmond-rostand/my-heart-always-timidly-hides-itself-behind-my-mind-i-set-out-to/) [Edmond Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmond-rostand/) > [“We hold the future still timidly, but perceive it for the first time as a function of our own action.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-bernal/we-hold-the-future-still-timidly-but-perceive-it-for-the-first-time/) [J.D. Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-bernal/) > [Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/mr-d-grover-asked-timidly-if-you-re-not-going-to-eat-it-could-i-have/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) ## More by Edith Wharton > [“Suddenly the air was full of that deep clangor of bells which periodically covers Rome with a roof of silver.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/suddenly-the-air-was-full-of-that-deep-clangor-of-bells-which/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Untrained human nature was not frank and innocent; it was full of the twists and defences of an instinctive guile. And he felt himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/untrained-human-nature-was-not-frank-and-innocent-it-was-full-of-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“High Pasture Come up--come up: in the dim vale below The autumn mist muffles the fading trees, But on this keen hill-pasture, though the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/high-pasture-come-up-come-up-in-the-dim-vale-below-the-autumn-mist/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Two ways to be a light for all, is to be a flaming candle or the mirror that reflects it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/two-ways-to-be-a-light-for-all-is-to-be-a-flaming-candle-or-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“... no treasure-house of Atreus was ever as rich as a well-stored memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/no-treasure-house-of-atreus-was-ever-as-rich-as-a-well-stored-memory/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“...the endless labour of rolling human stupidity up the steep hill of understanding.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-endless-labour-of-rolling-human-stupidity-up-the-steep-hill-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material and social interests held together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of-the-other-marriages-about/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/the-real-loneliness-is-living-among-all-these-kind-people-who-only/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [With a shiver of foreboding he saw his marriage becoming what most of the other marriages about him were: a dull association of material…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/with-a-shiver-of-foreboding-he-saw-his-marriage-becoming-what-most-of/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Life is the saddest thing there is, next to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/life-is-the-saddest-thing-there-is-next-to-death/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/a-classic-is-classic-not-because-it-conforms-to-certain-structural/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [There is too much sour grapes for my taste in the present American attitude. The time to denounce the bankers was when we were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/there-is-too-much-sour-grapes-for-my-taste-in-the-present-american/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“But in a few years more perhaps there may be; for, deep within us as the ghost instinct lurks, I seem to see it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/but-in-a-few-years-more-perhaps-there-may-be-for-deep-within-us-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Dialogue in fiction should be reserved for the culminating moments and regarded as the spray into which the great wave of narrative breaks in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/dialogue-in-fiction-should-be-reserved-for-the-culminating-moments/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“These Americans, under their forthcoming manner, their surface-gush, as some might call it, have an odd reticence about what goes on underneath.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/these-americans-under-their-forthcoming-manner-their-surface-gush-as/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) [Explore all 504 Edith Wharton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) ## More Timidly quotes > [Who timidly requests invites refusal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/who-timidly-requests-invites-refusal/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [My heart always timidly hides itself behind my mind. I set out to bring down stars from the sky, then, for fear of ridicule,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmond-rostand/my-heart-always-timidly-hides-itself-behind-my-mind-i-set-out-to/) [Edmond Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmond-rostand/) > [“We hold the future still timidly, but perceive it for the first time as a function of our own action.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-bernal/we-hold-the-future-still-timidly-but-perceive-it-for-the-first-time/) [J.D. Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-bernal/) > [Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/mr-d-grover-asked-timidly-if-you-re-not-going-to-eat-it-could-i-have/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) [Browse all 5 Timidly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/timidly-1534018/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her kind, but her imagination rushed out to the beauties of the visible world; and the decaying majesty of Allfriars moved her strangely.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edith Wharton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-her-kind-but-her-imagination/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Timidly" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-her-kind-but-her-imagination/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/edith-wharton-512_timidly_her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-he_2582254.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Her soul opened slowly and timidly to her kind, but her imagination rushed out to the beauties of the…” — Edith Wharton", "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": "Edith Wharton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Her soul opened slowly and timidly...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-her-kind-but-her-imagination/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/her-soul-opened-slowly-and-timidly-to-her-kind-but-her-imagination/#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 } } ] } ```