--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: [...] a morass of despair violence death…" description: "\"[...] a morass of despair violence death with a thin layer of glass spread upon the surface where Love, a tiny crab with pincers and rainbow shell, wal..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg" --- # \[...\] a morass of despair violence death with a thin layer… ![“[...] a morass of despair violence death with a thin layer of glass spread upon the surface where Love, a tiny crab with pincers and rainbow shell, walked delicately ever sideways but getting nowhere, while the sun [...] rose higher in the sky its tassels dropping with flame threatening every…” quote by Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg) > “\[...\] a morass of despair violence death with a thin layer of glass spread upon the surface where Love, a tiny crab with pincers and rainbow shell, walked delicately ever sideways but getting nowhere, while the sun \[...\] rose higher in the sky its tassels dropping with flame threatening every moment to melt the precarious highway of glass. And the people: giant pathworks of colour with limbs missing and parts of their mind snipped off to fit them into the outline of the free pattern.” [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A bleak world where love struggles amid violence and fragility, while people are forced into conforming roles, highlighting existential despair and resilience. **In simple terms:** Love tries to survive in a fragile, violent world. Key Takeaway Recognize love’s fragility and resist conformity. Themes existentialism fragility conformity resilience violence Mood melancholic reflective hopeful Type literary philosophical poetic When to use this quote - personal relationships - social oppression - mental health - artistic expression Key Concepts human condition symbolism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can individuals preserve love in oppressive societies? - What does the glass symbolize about vulnerability? A Different Perspective Even fragile love can be overwhelmed by systemic violence and forced conformity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Colour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colour/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Despair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/despair/) [Every moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-moment/) [Flame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flame/) [Highways](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highways/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Rainbow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rainbow/) [Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rose/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun/) [Tassels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tassels/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) ## Related quotes > [Crime takes root when household budgets are unable to address the conditions that can lead to despair and violence, and government services and policies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-adams/crime-takes-root-when-household-budgets-are-unable-to-address-the/) [Eric Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-adams/) > [A jellyfish is little more than a pulsating bell, a tassel of trailing tentacles and a single digestive opening through which it both eats…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-kluger/a-jellyfish-is-little-more-than-a-pulsating-bell-a-tassel-of-trailing/) [Jeffrey Kluger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-kluger/) > [Without a dog, I would have tassels on my throw pillows instead of little stubs of yarn that look like small worms. The pillows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-bruce-cameron/without-a-dog-i-would-have-tassels-on-my-throw-pillows-instead-of/) [W. Bruce Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-bruce-cameron/) > [There are a lot of nice details that are exclusive to C. Wonder, which are the status C. Wonder gold buttons and the tassels.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-goreski/there-are-a-lot-of-nice-details-that-are-exclusive-to-c-wonder-which/) [Brad Goreski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-goreski/) > [Again the blackbirds sings; the streams Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams, And tremble in the April showers The tassels of the maple flowers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-greenleaf-whittier/again-the-blackbirds-sings-the-streams-wake-laughing-from-their/) [John Greenleaf Whittier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-greenleaf-whittier/) > [Oh, heart, let's never grow too old To smile anew, when Christmas comes, At tassels red and tinsel thread, And tarlatan bags f sugarplums.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-byrd-turner/oh-heart-let-s-never-grow-too-old-to-smile-anew-when-christmas-comes/) [Nancy Byrd Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-byrd-turner/) > [Someone sits in a mountain vale A robe of clouds, rainbows for tassels The fragrant forest is the place to live The road has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanshan/someone-sits-in-a-mountain-vale-a-robe-of-clouds-rainbows-for-tassels/) [Hanshan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanshan/) > [I don't think many people were, but I love the black, the tassels and the leather, obviously. I'm still wearing that. I haven't let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malin-akerman/i-don-t-think-many-people-were-but-i-love-the-black-the-tassels-and/) [Malin Akerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malin-akerman/) > [The white men of the South had better make up their minds that the blacks will remain in the South just as long as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-thomas-fortune/the-white-men-of-the-south-had-better-make-up-their-minds-that-the/) [Timothy Thomas Fortune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-thomas-fortune/) > [I am always behind the shopper at the grocery store who has stitched her coupons in the lining of her coat and wants to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erma-bombeck/i-am-always-behind-the-shopper-at-the-grocery-store-who-has-stitched/) [Erma Bombeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erma-bombeck/) > [Una's face was an unbroken block of calculation, saving where, upon her upper lip, a little down of hair fluttered. Yet it gave one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/djuna-barnes/una-s-face-was-an-unbroken-block-of-calculation-saving-where-upon-her/) [Djuna Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/djuna-barnes/) > [I might look like a honey-eyed schoolgirl on the outside, in my skirt with its regulation four-inches-above-the-knee hem. But I'll rip those tassels off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-cabot/i-might-look-like-a-honey-eyed-schoolgirl-on-the-outside-in-my-skirt/) [Meg Cabot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-cabot/) > [“These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the LORD’S commands and obey them. Numbers 15:39”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/these-will-serve-as-tassels-for-you-to-look-at-so-that-you-may/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [But she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/but-she-still-had-that-something-which-fires-the-imagination-could/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [“Crabs and medusas were my natural enemies. Crabs because I once got bitten on my bum as I had fallen asleep on a rock…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patric-juillet/crabs-and-medusas-were-my-natural-enemies-crabs-because-i-once-got/) [Patric Juillet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patric-juillet/) ## More by Janet Frame > [Very often the law of extremity demands an attention to irrelevance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/very-often-the-law-of-extremity-demands-an-attention-to-irrelevance/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [I must go down to the seas again to find where I buried the hatchet with Yesterday.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/i-must-go-down-to-the-seas-again-to-find-where-i-buried-the-hatchet/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [“So I went up north to a land of palm trees and mangroves like malignant growths in the mud-filled throats of the bays, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/so-i-went-up-north-to-a-land-of-palm-trees-and-mangroves-like/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [“A certain pleasure was added to Grace’s relief at establishing herself as a migratory bird. She found that she understood the characters in her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/a-certain-pleasure-was-added-to-grace-s-relief-at-establishing/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [“I have to cry out here that language is all we have for the delicacy and truth of telling, that words are the sole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/i-have-to-cry-out-here-that-language-is-all-we-have-for-the-delicacy/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [The only certainty about writing and trying to be a writer is that it has to be done, not dreamed of or planned and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/the-only-certainty-about-writing-and-trying-to-be-a-writer-is-that-it/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [“Life is hell, but there are prizes. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/life-is-hell-but-there-are-prizes/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [I don't want to inhabit the human world under false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/i-don-t-want-to-inhabit-the-human-world-under-false-pretenses/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [Listening to her, one experienced a deep uneasiness as of having avoided an urgent responsibility, like someone who, walking at night along the banks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/listening-to-her-one-experienced-a-deep-uneasiness-as-of-having/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [I don't wish to inhabit the human world under false pretences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/i-don-t-wish-to-inhabit-the-human-world-under-false-pretences/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [People dread silence because it is transparent; like clear water, which reveals every obstacle—the used, the dead, the drowned, silence reveals the cast-off words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/people-dread-silence-because-it-is-transparent-like-clear-water-which/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [So we went to bed, assaulted by sleep that fumed at us from medicine glasses, or was wielded from small sweet-coated tablets -- dainty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/so-we-went-to-bed-assaulted-by-sleep-that-fumed-at-us-from-medicine/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [She grew more and more silent about what really mattered. She curled inside herself like one of those black chimney brushes, the little shellfish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/she-grew-more-and-more-silent-about-what-really-mattered-she-curled/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [Conversation is the wall we build between ourselves and other people, too often with tired words like used and broken bottles which, catching the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/conversation-is-the-wall-we-build-between-ourselves-and-other-people/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [But it is imperative, for our own survival, that we avoiid one another, and what more successful means of avoidance are there than words?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/but-it-is-imperative-for-our-own-survival-that-we-avoiid-one-another/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) [Explore all 77 Janet Frame quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) ## More Colour quotes > [Alfred Nobel stipulated that no distinction of race or colour will determine who received of his generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abdus-salam/alfred-nobel-stipulated-that-no-distinction-of-race-or-colour-will/) [Abdus Salam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abdus-salam/) > [I sometimes wish taste wasn't ever an issue, and the sounds of instruments or synths could be judged solely on their colour and timbre.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonny-greenwood/i-sometimes-wish-taste-wasn-t-ever-an-issue-and-the-sounds-of/) [Jonny Greenwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonny-greenwood/) > [Half of the pleasure of painting and feeling the joy of the creative act is sharing it with others and the feeling of connection.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-genn/half-of-the-pleasure-of-painting-and-feeling-the-joy-of-the-creative/) [Sara Genn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-genn/) > [I am a great lover of art, in many forms: paintings, objets, textiles. I don't have the talent for painting, but I have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-bisset/i-am-a-great-lover-of-art-in-many-forms-paintings-objets-textiles-i/) [Jacqueline Bisset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-bisset/) > [What we need in South Africa is for egos to be suppressed in favour of peace. We need to create a new breed of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hani/what-we-need-in-south-africa-is-for-egos-to-be-suppressed-in-favour/) [Chris Hani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hani/) > [Ah, Manet has come very, very close to it and Courbet - the marrying of form and colour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-van-gogh/ah-manet-has-come-very-very-close-to-it-and-courbet-the-marrying-of/) [Vincent Van Gogh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-van-gogh/) > [It is not necessary to have an extravagant food budget in order to serve things with variety and tastefully cooked. It is not necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-schaeffer/it-is-not-necessary-to-have-an-extravagant-food-budget-in-order-to/) [Edith Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-schaeffer/) > [People frequently ask me why I devote so much time to seeking out facts about man’s past…the past shows clearly that we all have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-leakey/people-frequently-ask-me-why-i-devote-so-much-time-to-seeking-out/) [Louis Leakey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-leakey/) > [Walk out like someone suddenly born into colour. Do it now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/walk-out-like-someone-suddenly-born-into-colour-do-it-now/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [As soon as I turned the key I saw it hanging, the color of fire and sunset. the colour of flamboyant flowers. ‘If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rhys/as-soon-as-i-turned-the-key-i-saw-it-hanging-the-color-of-fire-and/) [Jean Rhys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rhys/) > [All color is no color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-color-is-no-color/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [To me, grey is the welcome and only possible equivalent for indifference, noncommitment, absence of opinion, absence of shape. But grey, like formlessness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/to-me-grey-is-the-welcome-and-only-possible-equivalent-for/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [William," the professor said, softly, "what now is your weapon?"…"Truth," he whispered, his voice rasping. He cleared his throat. "Truth is my sword." …"And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-davis/william-the-professor-said-softly-what-now-is-your-weapon-truth-he/) [Bryan Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-davis/) > [Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colours wave! And either victory, or else a grave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/sound-trumpets-let-our-bloody-colours-wave-and-either-victory-or-else/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [We get used to a certain kind of colour of form or format, and it's acceptable. And to puncture that is sticking your neck…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-krasner/we-get-used-to-a-certain-kind-of-colour-of-form-or-format-and-it-s/) [Lee Krasner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-krasner/) [Browse all 1,279 Colour quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/colour/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "[...] a morass of despair violence death with a thin layer of glass spread upon the surface where Love, a tiny crab with pincers and rainbow shell, walked delicately ever sideways but getting nowhere, while the sun [...] rose higher in the sky its tassels dropping with flame threatening every moment to melt the precarious highway of glass. And the people: giant pathworks of colour with limbs missing and parts of their mind snipped off to fit them into the outline of the free pattern.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Janet Frame" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with-a-thin-layer-of-glass-spread/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Colour" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with-a-thin-layer-of-glass-spread/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/990/janet-frame-8769_colour_a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with_1306502.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“[...] a morass of despair violence death with a thin layer of glass spread upon the surface where Love, a…” — Janet Frame", "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": "Janet Frame", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "[...] a morass of despair violence...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with-a-thin-layer-of-glass-spread/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/a-morass-of-despair-violence-death-with-a-thin-layer-of-glass-spread/#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 } } ] } ```