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Inner life Quote by Enid Bagnold

“She changed her position, contemplated a row od apple shrubs that she had put in last autumn at the bottom of the terrace, and slowly filled up again with comfortable thoughts. Things wee coming to a head. Her inner life, her restless inner life, was still and lay asleep. She was at liberty now to…” quote by Enid Bagnold
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““She changed her position, contemplated a row od apple shrubs that she had put in last autumn at the bottom of the terrace, and slowly filled up again with comfortable thoughts. Things wee coming to a head. Her inner life, her restless inner life, was still and lay asleep. She was at liberty now to think of material things; positions of wardrobes and chests-of-drawers; lists of books to be piled by her bed; dressing jackets; white wooly vests and pants. It was not often she could thus play dolls and doll-houses without feeling she ought to be doing something else; that life was short; that she was threatened by the melancholy of life itself whose vapors sometimes reached her with overpowering strength. from her present sea-deep content two things were absent now - the horror of the ultimate departure, and the need to express herself before the end. The baby seemed to swim and strike like a dolphin. "it is a mystery," she said. "Women bearing children, bulbs becoming hyacinths, acorns … sheep… lambs. Feet that never touched the earth… I shall become two people." She stared between the apple trees; hypnotized, drugged by that sea-deep peace; wonder drifting weedily in and out. She was a vase, a container, a plot oak for a gnome to live in, a split oak, a hollow elm.””

Enid Bagnold

About This Quote

Source Novel: The Oldest Living Son, 1934, null

A woman oscillates between domestic thoughts and existential dread, finding fleeting peace in nature yet haunted by mortality.

In simple terms: She balances daily chores with deeper anxieties.

Key Takeaway

Acknowledge both routine and deeper concerns.

Themes

existential domestic peace melancholy identity

Mood

contemplative melancholic quiet

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

  • organizing a home
  • reflecting on life's purpose
  • coping with fear of death

Key Concepts

psychology philosophy literary analysis

Questions to Reflect On

  • What gives you peace amidst anxiety?
  • How do you integrate daily tasks with larger life meaning?
A Different Perspective

Focusing only on routine may ignore deeper needs.

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