--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Life is always a tightrope or a feather…" description: "\"Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.\" — Edith Wharton" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/686/edith-wharton-512_bed_life-is-always-a-tightrope-or-a-feather_228264.png" --- # Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the… ![“Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.” quote by Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/686/edith-wharton-512_bed_life-is-always-a-tightrope-or-a-feather_228264.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/686/edith-wharton-512_bed_life-is-always-a-tightrope-or-a-feather_228264.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/686/edith-wharton-512_bed_life-is-always-a-tightrope-or-a-feather_228264.png) > “Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.” [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. Choosing hardship over comfort fosters growth and resilience. **In simple terms:** Choose challenge, not ease. Key Takeaway Embrace difficulty to develop strength. Themes growth resilience choice Mood reflective determined Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career challenges - personal development - creative pursuits - relationships Key Concepts existentialism self‑determination Questions to Reflect On - What comforts are you avoiding? - How does struggle shape your character? A Different Perspective Comfort can lead to stagnation and missed opportunities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Tightrope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tightrope/) ## Related quotes > [“Life is always either a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/life-is-always-either-a-tightrope-or-a-feather-bed-give-me-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [Life is always either; a tight -rope or a feather-bed . — Give me the tightrope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/life-is-always-either-a-tight-rope-or-a-feather-bed-give-me-the/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Life is a tightrope walk. One has to balance the do's and don'ts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haresh-sippy/life-is-a-tightrope-walk-one-has-to-balance-the-do-s-and-don-ts/) [Haresh Sippy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haresh-sippy/) > [“For years, i lived my life, waiting for the other shoe to drop... i thought control was something i could have over my life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaeda-dewalt/for-years-i-lived-my-life-waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop-i/) [Jaeda DeWalt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaeda-dewalt/) > [Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a tightrope artist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-nouwen/living-in-a-community-with-very-wounded-people-i-came-to-see-that-i/) [Henri Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-nouwen/) > [Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippe-petit/life-should-be-lived-on-the-edge-of-life-you-have-to-exercise/) [Philippe Petit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippe-petit/) > [This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering its a feather bed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/this-is-how-magic-is-done-by-hurling-yourself-into-the-abyss-and/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [“A plumped feather bed may have looked divine, but occupants quickly found themselves sinking into a hard, airless fissure between billowy hills. Support was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/a-plumped-feather-bed-may-have-looked-divine-but-occupants-quickly/) [Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/) > [“There is nothing more delightful in life than a feather bed and an open fire—except a feather bed with a warm and tender lover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/there-is-nothing-more-delightful-in-life-than-a-feather-bed-and-an/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [“When I get up in the morning, I go right back to bed again. I feel best in the evening the moment I put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-ren-kierkegaard/when-i-get-up-in-the-morning-i-go-right-back-to-bed-again-i-feel-best/) [Søren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-ren-kierkegaard/) > [You will not be carried to Heaven lying at ease upon a feather bed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-rutherford/you-will-not-be-carried-to-heaven-lying-at-ease-upon-a-feather-bed/) [Samuel Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-rutherford/) > [For me, art history is like a feather bed - you fall into it and it catches you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/for-me-art-history-is-like-a-feather-bed-you-fall-into-it-and-it/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [“We were walking that tightrope between friends and something more...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-aragon/we-were-walking-that-tightrope-between-friends-and-something-more/) [Melissa Aragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-aragon/) > [The world may end up under a Sword of Damocles on a tightrope over the abyss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-a-gromyko/the-world-may-end-up-under-a-sword-of-damocles-on-a-tightrope-over/) Andrei A. Gromyko > [“We’re each on our own tightrope. All we can do is pick one another up after we fall.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marius-gabriel/we-re-each-on-our-own-tightrope-all-we-can-do-is-pick-one-another-up/) [Marius Gabriel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marius-gabriel/) ## 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 Bed quotes > [When man of slender visits you / Nothing on earth that one can do / In well he’ll hide, or watery hole / And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-goldstein/when-man-of-slender-visits-you-nothing-on-earth-that-one-can-do-in/) [Jack Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-goldstein/) > [Your idea of fidelity is not having more than one man in bed at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-raphael/your-idea-of-fidelity-is-not-having-more-than-one-man-in-bed-at-the/) [Frederic Raphael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-raphael/) > [The beginning of love is all about the butterflies, but the end of it is when you can't get out of bed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/the-beginning-of-love-is-all-about-the-butterflies-but-the-end-of-it/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/home-is-behind-the-world-ahead-and-there-are-many-paths-to-tread/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I wish I had as much in bed as I get in the newspapers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-ronstadt/i-wish-i-had-as-much-in-bed-as-i-get-in-the-newspapers/) [Linda Ronstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-ronstadt/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/why-couldn-t-jesus-command-us-to-obsess-over-everything-to-try-to/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/to-all-the-secret-writers-late-night-painters-would-be-singers-lapsed/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tao-lin/in-the-parking-lot-she-drove-and-parked-in-a-dark-area-with-no-other/) [Tao Lin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tao-lin/) > [It wasn't really touching to be young; it was touching not to be young, because you had less of life left. Touching to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/it-wasn-t-really-touching-to-be-young-it-was-touching-not-to-be-young/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [I have to meditate before I go to bed, always. I have to let the day go and let the eternal in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bellamy-young/i-have-to-meditate-before-i-go-to-bed-always-i-have-to-let-the-day-go/) [Bellamy Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bellamy-young/) > [Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/sometimes-by-a-woodland-stream-he-watched-the-water-rush-over-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I think life is full of challenges and problems. I don't believe that anyone is perfect. We all make mistakes. It's not a bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-mansell/i-think-life-is-full-of-challenges-and-problems-i-don-t-believe-that/) [Nigel Mansell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-mansell/) > [When I saw him I thought I could curl up inside him and go to sleep and never wake up." "Men are no good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/when-i-saw-him-i-thought-i-could-curl-up-inside-him-and-go-to-sleep/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [I always wanted to be a movie star. I thought it meant being famous and having breakfast in bed. I didn't know you had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-allyson/i-always-wanted-to-be-a-movie-star-i-thought-it-meant-being-famous/) [June Allyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-allyson/) Browse all 4,159 Bed quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Life is always a tightrope or a feather bed. 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