--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Is it not a magical thing, this life…" description: "\"“Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little ash, cinder, and unclear water can arrange themselves into a beautiful old woman who sways, l..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png" --- # Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little… ![“Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little ash, cinder, and unclear water can arrange themselves into a beautiful old woman who sways, lifts, kisses, loves, sickens, argues, loses, bears up under it all, and, wrinkling, still lives under all that and yet feeds the Holy in Nature by…” quote by Martin Prechtel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png) > ““Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little ash, cinder, and unclear water can arrange themselves into a beautiful old woman who sways, lifts, kisses, loves, sickens, argues, loses, bears up under it all, and, wrinkling, still lives under all that and yet feeds the Holy in Nature by just the way she moves barefoot down a path?”” [Martin Prechtel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-prechtel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Celebrates life's paradoxes, how fragile beings create beauty despite hardship. **In simple terms:** Life is paradoxical and beautiful. Key Takeaway Embrace life's contradictions with gratitude. Themes beauty paradox resilience Mood wonderful thoughtful Type inspirational philosophical When to use this quote - artistic creation - personal growth - mindfulness practice Key Concepts existentialism human experience Questions to Reflect On - How do we find meaning in hardship? - What role does gratitude play? A Different Perspective May romanticize suffering, ignoring systemic issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beautiful Old](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful-old-233834/) [Holy Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/holy-nature-2437164/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Old woman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-woman/) [Woman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/woman/) [Woman Sways](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/woman-sways-2437165/) ## Related quotes > [“The world is holy. Nature is holy. The body is holy. Sexuality is holy. The imagination is holy. Divinity is immanent in nature; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-adler/the-world-is-holy-nature-is-holy-the-body-is-holy-sexuality-is-holy/) [Margot Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-adler/) > [How beautiful an old woman's skin is! All those wrinkles!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-eakins/how-beautiful-an-old-woman-s-skin-is-all-those-wrinkles/) [Thomas Eakins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-eakins/) > [In any case, life is beautiful, extremely beautiful. And when you are old you appreciate it more. 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The sensation on the stage isn't as different as you might think from the Royal Court.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-thompson/wyndham-s-is-a-beautiful-old-theatre-the-sensation-on-the-stage-isn-t/) [Sophie Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-thompson/) > [She stroked my hair and told me I was beautiful, but I was old enough by then to know not to believe it anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dessen/she-stroked-my-hair-and-told-me-i-was-beautiful-but-i-was-old-enough/) [Sarah Dessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dessen/) ## More by Martin Prechtel > [We live in a kind of dark age, craftily lit with synthetic light, so that no one can tell how dark it has really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/we-live-in-a-kind-of-dark-age-craftily-lit-with-synthetic-light-so/) [Martin Prechtel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-prechtel/) > [“Humans are amazing ritual animals, and it must be understood that the Tzutujil, nor any other real intact people, do not 'practice' rituals. Just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/humans-are-amazing-ritual-animals-and-it-must-be-understood-that-the/) [Martin Prechtel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-prechtel/) > [“Turn that worthless lawn into a beautiful garden of food whose seeds are stories sown, whose foods are living origins. Grow a garden on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/turn-that-worthless-lawn-into-a-beautiful-garden-of-food-whose-seeds/) [Martin Prechtel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-prechtel/) > [God must be a smell, one of those delicious dreamy aromas that float into the soul on the warm hopeful days of spring. 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/) [Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [I value the experiences that come with life too much to sit by and not put my full effort into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-miller/i-value-the-experiences-that-come-with-life-too-much-to-sit-by-and/) [Jim Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-miller/) > [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/) [Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/) > [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/) [Deanna L. Lawlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deanna-l-lawlis/) > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) [Browse all 265,290 Life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little ash, cinder, and unclear water can arrange themselves into a beautiful old woman who sways, lifts, kisses, loves, sickens, argues, loses, bears up under it all, and, wrinkling, still lives under all that and yet feeds the Holy in Nature by just the way she moves barefoot down a path?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martin Prechtel" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when-just-a-little-ash-cinder-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when-just-a-little-ash-cinder-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b6/martin-prechtel-45389_life_is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when_2662303.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Is it not a magical thing, this life, when just a little ash, cinder, and unclear water can arrange…” — Martin Prechtel", "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": "Martin Prechtel", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-prechtel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Is it not a magical thing,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when-just-a-little-ash-cinder-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-prechtel/is-it-not-a-magical-thing-this-life-when-just-a-little-ash-cinder-and/#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 } } ] } ```