"...by the time we understand the pattern we……" — Robert Penn Warren

"...by the time we understand the pattern we are in, the definition we are making for ourselves, it's too late to break out of the box. We can only live in terms of the definition, like the prisoner in the cage in which he cannot lie or stand or sit, hung up in justice to be viewed by the populace. Yet the definition we have made of ourselves is ourselves. To break out of it, we must make a new self. But how can the self make a new self when the selfness which it is, is the only substance from which the new self can be made?"

Robert Penn Warren

76 Quotes by Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren has 76 quotes on this site. A few more worth reading:

See all 76 quotes by Robert Penn Warren »

More Box Quotes

This quote is filed under Box Quotes, one of 1,451 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

See all 1,451 Box Quotes »