--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You could be attached to merely a…" description: "\"You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. Isaiah and the other Hebrew pro..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/gerald-stern-17981_attached_you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-descri_1665132.jpg" --- # You could be attached to merely a description of a plant… ![“You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. Isaiah and the other Hebrew prophets, in their rage, were being altogether attached - not at all detached, although as I think of the word "detachment," I also think of a sheet…” quote by Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/gerald-stern-17981_attached_you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-descri_1665132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/gerald-stern-17981_attached_you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-descri_1665132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/gerald-stern-17981_attached_you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-descri_1665132.jpg) > “You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. Isaiah and the other Hebrew prophets, in their rage, were being altogether attached - not at all detached, although as I think of the word "detachment," I also think of a sheet of paper, loose from its notebook, fluttering around somewhere in the wind trying to find its home again.” [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Prophetic anger is a form of deep attachment, not detachment; it reflects a yearning for belonging amidst turmoil. **In simple terms:** Anger shows deep connection, not distance. Key Takeaway Channel passion into purposeful action. Themes poetry spirituality emotion Mood contemplative introspective Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - social activism - mental health - creative writing Key Concepts attachment theory prophetic literature Questions to Reflect On - How does your anger reveal what you value? - Can attachment coexist with peace? A Different Perspective Detachment can be a healthy coping strategy for some. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Detachment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/detachment/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Hebrew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hebrew/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Injustice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/injustice/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Notebook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/notebook/) [Plant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plant/) [Prophet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prophet/) [Rage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rage/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wind/) ## Related quotes > [The fear side can have us pull away and protect us, but it's really a withdrawal, a disassociation, a cutting off. Rather than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tara-brach/the-fear-side-can-have-us-pull-away-and-protect-us-but-it-s-really-a/) [Tara Brach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tara-brach/) > [Let us realize that engagement and detachment aren't opposite-the more engaged we become, the more detached we will have to be..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/let-us-realize-that-engagement-and-detachment-aren-t-opposite-the/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [The perfection of yoga is to become detached. And the perfection of detachment is to become completely attached, attached to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/radhanath-swami/the-perfection-of-yoga-is-to-become-detached-and-the-perfection-of/) [Radhanath Swami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/radhanath-swami/) > [“Scientific advancement carries risk,” Kohler argued. “It always has. Space programs, genetic research, medicine—they all make mistakes. Science needs to survive its own blunders,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/scientific-advancement-carries-risk-kohler-argued-it-always-has-space/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [“But over the years I came to realize that living in a detached way is, in fact, a withdrawal from life, an estrangement not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/but-over-the-years-i-came-to-realize-that-living-in-a-detached-way-is/) [David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/) > [If you try too much to change the outside, that shows that you are still attached. If a man tries to be detached, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/if-you-try-too-much-to-change-the-outside-that-shows-that-you-are/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [Transcendence or detachment, leaving the body, pure love, lack of jealousy-that's the vision we are given in our culture, generally, when we think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bly/transcendence-or-detachment-leaving-the-body-pure-love-lack-of/) [Robert Bly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bly/) > [Surrendering means cleansing yourself completely, getting completely detached. Detachment is the only way you can rise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/surrendering-means-cleansing-yourself-completely-getting-completely/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [I don't really identify with America, I don't really feel like an American or part of the American experience, and I don't really feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/i-don-t-really-identify-with-america-i-don-t-really-feel-like-an/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between 'things' and 'God' as if God were another thing and as if creatures…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/detachment-from-things-does-not-mean-setting-up-a-contradiction/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [That balance between involvement and detachment is what novelists do. It's the ideal relationship between a novelist and a character, I think, total involvement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-barker/that-balance-between-involvement-and-detachment-is-what-novelists-do/) [Pat Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-barker/) > [If the Buddhist's job is to be detached, I think that the artist's job is to be both detached and attached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/if-the-buddhist-s-job-is-to-be-detached-i-think-that-the-artist-s-job/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [Maybe being an artist is a kind of detachment. You're in the cave, you're isolated, you're apart from everything and it's there you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/maybe-being-an-artist-is-a-kind-of-detachment-you-re-in-the-cave-you/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [For the Christian mystics, detachment meant to leave attachment so that God could enter you and take over completely and you could climb the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/for-the-christian-mystics-detachment-meant-to-leave-attachment-so/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [A room full of words that are nearly the truth but not quite, each note fluttering off the steam of its rose like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/a-room-full-of-words-that-are-nearly-the-truth-but-not-quite-each/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) ## More by Gerald Stern > [“I am going to carry my bed into New York City tonight complete with dangling sheets and ripped blankets; I am going to push…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-am-going-to-carry-my-bed-into-new-york-city-tonight-complete-with/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [I've been trying to come to terms with what I am and what I do and what I believe in. And I see that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-ve-been-trying-to-come-to-terms-with-what-i-am-and-what-i-do-and/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [“I think it's in Malone Dies that Beckett's creature is in a kind of prison or hospital. As I recall, he is visited twice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-think-it-s-in-malone-dies-that-beckett-s-creature-is-in-a-kind-of/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [Men aren't called pricks, but women are called cunts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/men-aren-t-called-pricks-but-women-are-called-cunts/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [I've changed over my writing life. If I can generalize, I would say that the more recent poems - believe it or not -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-ve-changed-over-my-writing-life-if-i-can-generalize-i-would-say/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [There are hundreds of prisons - sexual, political, cultural. But being a prisoner also gives you impetus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/there-are-hundreds-of-prisons-sexual-political-cultural-but-being-a/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [I've spent hundreds of hours working over words, and part of me, a large part of me, has a desire to do something else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-ve-spent-hundreds-of-hours-working-over-words-and-part-of-me-a/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [In America it's a particular problem. The artist, particularly the poet, is just unacknowledged; if I can use that dumb word. Maybe it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/in-america-it-s-a-particular-problem-the-artist-particularly-the-poet/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [I will look at the footprints going in and out of the water and dream up a small blue good to talk to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-will-look-at-the-footprints-going-in-and-out-of-the-water-and-dream/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [It's a kind of liberation to break free in language, if you can break free, but it's also a confinement, because form confines you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/it-s-a-kind-of-liberation-to-break-free-in-language-if-you-can-break/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [I feel that my job, as an artist, is to disturb the peace. And to disturb it intellectually, linguistically, politically and literally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-feel-that-my-job-as-an-artist-is-to-disturb-the-peace-and-to/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [Oppressed cultures often envy those which are not, or oppressed individuals do, and sometimes those which - and who - are not envy those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/oppressed-cultures-often-envy-those-which-are-not-or-oppressed/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [The act of writing itself isn't outrageous. And the institution subtly and insidiously works on you in such a way that though you seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/the-act-of-writing-itself-isn-t-outrageous-and-the-institution-subtly/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [“lucky life isn't one long string of horrors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/lucky-life-isn-t-one-long-string-of-horrors/) [gerald stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) > [The cave is a dark, shadowy place. It's a place that's very close and yet distant at the same time, and it's a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/the-cave-is-a-dark-shadowy-place-it-s-a-place-that-s-very-close-and/) [Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) [Explore all 36 Gerald Stern quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/) ## More Attached quotes > [Don't get too attached to someone you know you can't be together with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anurag-prakash-ray/don-t-get-too-attached-to-someone-you-know-you-can-t-be-together-with/) [Anurag Prakash Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anurag-prakash-ray/) > [“With no name attached to it, the place somehow declared itself nowhere and everywhere at the same time”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-p-knave/with-no-name-attached-to-it-the-place-somehow-declared-itself-nowhere/) [Adam P. Knave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-p-knave/) > [“Sometimes, we are so attached to our way of life that we turn down a wonderful opportunity simply because we don't know what to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/sometimes-we-are-so-attached-to-our-way-of-life-that-we-turn-down-a/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“For the creator must be a world for himself, and find everything within himself, and in Nature to which he has attached himself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/for-the-creator-must-be-a-world-for-himself-and-find-everything/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [I don't want to get attached to anyone anymore. It only destroys me in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-don-t-want-to-get-attached-to-anyone-anymore-it-only-destroys-me-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I definitely feel more attached to Kolkata than anywhere else in India.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isa-guha/i-definitely-feel-more-attached-to-kolkata-than-anywhere-else-in-india/) [Isa Guha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isa-guha/) > [“When you think it is you who are doing something, that is when you get attached to how it all works out in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-viljoen/when-you-think-it-is-you-who-are-doing-something-that-is-when-you-get/) Edward Viljoen > [I get emotionally attached to someone if I talk to them on the street corner for five minutes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dustin-lance-black/i-get-emotionally-attached-to-someone-if-i-talk-to-them-on-the-street/) [Dustin Lance Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dustin-lance-black/) > [People always leave as soon as you get attached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-always-leave-as-soon-as-you-get-attached/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I farm - there is something visceral about being attached to the land. I am a recording engineer. I do my own laundry most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-lerner/i-farm-there-is-something-visceral-about-being-attached-to-the-land-i/) [Sandra Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-lerner/) > [The problem with getting attached to someone: When they leave, you just feel lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-problem-with-getting-attached-to-someone-when-they-leave-you-just/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-muir/when-one-tugs-at-a-single-thing-in-nature-he-finds-it-attached-to-the/) [John Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-muir/) > [I'm a big advocate of a work-for-pay setup rather than an allowance that isn't attached to chores - it's a great way to impart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suze-orman/i-m-a-big-advocate-of-a-work-for-pay-setup-rather-than-an-allowance/) [Suze Orman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suze-orman/) > [The longer we stay in Hell, the more we become attached to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/the-longer-we-stay-in-hell-the-more-we-become-attached-to-it/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [I'm very attached to my family and protective of them and miss them, and that situation, my connection with that can make me become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-cliff/i-m-very-attached-to-my-family-and-protective-of-them-and-miss-them/) [Jimmy Cliff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-cliff/) Browse all 425 Attached quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. 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