--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Eternal life can mean utter reverence for…" description: "\"Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.\" — Seamus Heaney" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png" --- # Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself. ![“Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png) > “Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.” [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeing eternal life as profound reverence for all existence, urging deep respect for the living world. **In simple terms:** Eternal life means deep respect for life. Key Takeaway Cultivate reverence for every living thing. Themes philosophy spirituality environment ethics Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - environmental activism - mindful living - education Key Concepts existential reverence interconnectedness Questions to Reflect On - How can reverence translate into action? - What does reverence for life look like daily? A Different Perspective Reverence may be abstract without concrete practice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) [Eternal life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal-life/) [Itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/itself/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Reverence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence/) [Reverence for life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence-for-life/) [Reverence Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence-life-709418/) [Utter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utter/) [Utter Reverence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utter-reverence-6038728/) ## Related quotes > [The ethic of Reverence for Life is the ethic of Love widened into universality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/the-ethic-of-reverence-for-life-is-the-ethic-of-love-widened-into/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [If you are fully aligned with your soul it will be your pleasure, your joy to always move toward cooperation, toward sharing, toward reverence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-zukav/if-you-are-fully-aligned-with-your-soul-it-will-be-your-pleasure-your/) [Gary Zukav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-zukav/) > [You only become funny when you have a complete reverence for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/you-only-become-funny-when-you-have-a-complete-reverence-for-life/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/reverence-for-life-is-the-highest-court-of-appeal/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [When a man has reverence for life, he will never do anything to harm, hinder or destroy life. Instead he bends every effort to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/when-a-man-has-reverence-for-life-he-will-never-do-anything-to-harm/) [Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/) > [A reverence for life needs to be developed, in which all things are sacred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/a-reverence-for-life-needs-to-be-developed-in-which-all-things-are/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [ What does Reverence for Life say abut the relations between \[humanity\] and the animal world? Whenever I injury any kind of life I must… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/what-does-reverence-for-life-say-abut-the-relations-between-humanity/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/reverence-for-life-affords-me-my-fundamental-principle-of-morality-2/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [We can make these three dynamic words - "reverence for life" - a part of our lives by becoming aware that God is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/we-can-make-these-three-dynamic-words-reverence-for-life-a-part-of/) [Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/) > [I think along the way, as we treat nature as model and mentor, and not as a nuisance to be evaded or manipulated, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amory-lovins/i-think-along-the-way-as-we-treat-nature-as-model-and-mentor-and-not/) [Amory Lovins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amory-lovins/) > [By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/by-having-a-reverence-for-life-we-enter-into-a-spiritual-relation/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life, and that to destroy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/reverence-for-life-affords-me-my-fundamental-principle-of-morality/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [“There is also a dimension of patience which links it to a special reverence for life. Patience is a willingness, in a sense, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/there-is-also-a-dimension-of-patience-which-links-it-to-a-special/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/ethics-is-nothing-else-than-reverence-for-life/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) > [Just as white light consists of colored rays, so reverence for life contains all the components of ethics: love, kindliness, sympathy, empathy, peacefulness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/just-as-white-light-consists-of-colored-rays-so-reverence-for-life/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) ## More by Seamus Heaney > [You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-had-to-come-back-to-learn-how-to-lose-yourself-to-be-pilot-and/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-m-very-conscious-that-people-dear-to-me-are-alive-in-my-imagination/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-can-have-irish-identity-in-the-north-and-also-have-your-irish/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-external-reality-and-inner-dynamic-of-happenings-in-northern/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/hope-for-a-great-sea-change-timid-to-rebuke-and-too-petty-to-forgive/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was-docker-that-fist-would-drop-a/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) \[on which the poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally-a-poem-that-arose-from/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/poetry-is-always-slightly-mysterious-and-you-wonder-what-is-your/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/sink-every-impulse-like-a-bolt-secure-the-bastion-of-sensation-do-not/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/two-buckets-were-easier-carried-than-one-i-grew-up-in-between/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-suppose-i-m-saying-that-defiance-is-actually-part-of-the-lyric-job/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [“It is said that once upon a time St. Kevin was kneeling with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-is-said-that-once-upon-a-time-st-kevin-was-kneeling-with-his-arms/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/my-father-and-mother-had-no-sense-of-entitlement-for-their-children/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) [Explore all 214 Seamus Heaney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## More Eternal quotes > [Many individuals spend a considerable portion of their lifetimes in terror of one imagined catastrophe or another. The classic is that your immortal soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/many-individuals-spend-a-considerable-portion-of-their-lifetimes-in/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Eternal Trinity... mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of Yourself. For You are a fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-catherine-of-siena/eternal-trinity-mystery-deep-as-the-sea-you-could-give-me-no-greater/) [St. Catherine of Siena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-catherine-of-siena/) > [“Please not yet. Those are the three eternal words. Please not yet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-macdonald/please-not-yet-those-are-the-three-eternal-words-please-not-yet/) [John D. MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-macdonald/) > [I remain an eternal optimist about love. I believe in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-lopez/i-remain-an-eternal-optimist-about-love-i-believe-in-love/) [Jennifer Lopez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-lopez/) > [The writings of latter-day prophets clearly teach that the sorrows and sufferings endured by Adam and Eve upon their leaving the Garden of Eden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-k-judd/the-writings-of-latter-day-prophets-clearly-teach-that-the-sorrows/) [Daniel K Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-k-judd/) > [There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-kuyper/there-are-two-kinds-of-beauty-there-is-a-beauty-which-god-gives-at/) [Abraham Kuyper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-kuyper/) > [The time has come for us to understand that the Eternal Feminine is the greatest power in this Universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samael-aun-weor/the-time-has-come-for-us-to-understand-that-the-eternal-feminine-is/) [Samael Aun Weor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samael-aun-weor/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maynard-james-keenan/we-are-eternal-all-this-pain-is-an-illusion/) [Maynard James Keenan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maynard-james-keenan/) > [In some respects I will never die. Because art is immortal. What we leave behind and what we create - the energy that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madonna-ciccone/in-some-respects-i-will-never-die-because-art-is-immortal-what-we/) [Madonna Ciccone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madonna-ciccone/) > [The only way to have eternal love is to never let your heart forget what it’s like to live without it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/the-only-way-to-have-eternal-love-is-to-never-let-your-heart-forget/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [My God, whose son, as on this night, took on Him the form of man, and for man vouchsafed to suffer and bleed, controls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/my-god-whose-son-as-on-this-night-took-on-him-the-form-of-man-and-for/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [In the course of our eternal existence, we spend infinitely more time in the spirit world on the other side than we spend in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-browne/in-the-course-of-our-eternal-existence-we-spend-infinitely-more-time/) [Sylvia Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-browne/) > [The propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/the-propitious-smiles-of-heaven-can-never-be-expected-on-a-nation/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [If our faith in God is not the veriest sham, it demands, and will produce, the abandonment sometimes, the subordination always, of external helps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-maclaren/if-our-faith-in-god-is-not-the-veriest-sham-it-demands-and-will/) [Alexander MacLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-maclaren/) [Browse all 3,280 Eternal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seamus Heaney" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-for-life-itself/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Eternal" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-for-life-itself/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b17/seamus-heaney-1711_eternal_eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-fo_3218023.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Eternal life can mean utter reverence for life itself.” — Seamus Heaney", "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": "Seamus Heaney", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Eternal life can mean utter reverence...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-for-life-itself/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/eternal-life-can-mean-utter-reverence-for-life-itself/#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 } } ] } ```