--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Tea leaves thwart those who court…" description: "\"“Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, designing futures where nothing will occur: cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she will still predict n..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa4/sylvia-plath-149_ennui_tea-leaves-thwart-those-who-court-catast_1531995.jpg" --- # Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, designing… ![“Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, designing futures where nothing will occur: cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she will still predict no perils left to conquer. Jeopardy is jejune now: naïve knight finds ogres out-of-date and dragons unheard of, while blasé princesses indict tilts…” quote by Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa4/sylvia-plath-149_ennui_tea-leaves-thwart-those-who-court-catast_1531995.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa4/sylvia-plath-149_ennui_tea-leaves-thwart-those-who-court-catast_1531995.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa4/sylvia-plath-149_ennui_tea-leaves-thwart-those-who-court-catast_1531995.jpg) > ““Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, designing futures where nothing will occur: cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she will still predict no perils left to conquer. Jeopardy is jejune now: naïve knight finds ogres out-of-date and dragons unheard of, while blasé princesses indict tilts at terror as downright absurd.”” [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem mocks prophecy and heroic quests, suggesting that danger is now mundane and that traditional narratives are absurd. **In simple terms:** Traditional heroism feels outdated and meaningless. Key Takeaway Question outdated myths. Themes myth absurdity future Mood satirical contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative writing - critical analysis - cultural studies - storytelling Key Concepts literature philosophy Questions to Reflect On - Why do we cling to heroic stories? - How can we reinterpret myths for modern life? A Different Perspective Some find value in heroic narratives for meaning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ennui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ennui/) [Fairies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairies/) [Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems/) [Tea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tea/) [Tea leaves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tea-leaves/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“Visitors come and go. Daily I read tea leaves for signs of the approaching century: a raven perched on a cross a sword piercing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clara-blackwood/visitors-come-and-go-daily-i-read-tea-leaves-for-signs-of-the/) Clara Blackwood > [“Books were everywhere, lined neatly on shelves that went from floor to ceiling. The ceiling was two stories high, with an upper balcony that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-kleypas/books-were-everywhere-lined-neatly-on-shelves-that-went-from-floor-to/) [Lisa Kleypas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-kleypas/) > [A great idea should always be left to steep like loose tea leaves in a teapot for a while to make sure that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-stone/a-great-idea-should-always-be-left-to-steep-like-loose-tea-leaves-in/) [Phoebe Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-stone/) > [“I may not read tea leaves or palms, my lady, but it is easy enough to read faces. Yours is a questioning face, always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-raybourn/i-may-not-read-tea-leaves-or-palms-my-lady-but-it-is-easy-enough-to/) [Deanna Raybourn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deanna-raybourn/) > [“He hardly heard what Professor McGonagall was telling them about Animagi (wizards who could transform at will into animals), and wasn’t even watching when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling/he-hardly-heard-what-professor-mcgonagall-was-telling-them-about/) [J.K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling/) > [“But why, why all the hurt? Because, said Mr. Halloway. You need fuel, gas, someting to run a carnival on, don't you? Women live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/but-why-why-all-the-hurt-because-said-mr-halloway-you-need-fuel-gas/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [I grew up with tarot cards and the reading of tea leaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quentin-s-crisp/i-grew-up-with-tarot-cards-and-the-reading-of-tea-leaves/) [Quentin S. Crisp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quentin-s-crisp/) > [“If I know the classical psychological theories well enough to pass my comps and can reformulate them in ways that can impress peer reviewers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-muse/if-i-know-the-classical-psychological-theories-well-enough-to-pass-my/) Stephen Muse > [They pay little attention to what we say and prefer to read tea leaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikita-khrushchev/they-pay-little-attention-to-what-we-say-and-prefer-to-read-tea-leaves/) [Nikita Khrushchev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikita-khrushchev/) > [Astrology is the sheerest hokum. This pseudoscience has been around since the day of the Chaldeans and Babylonians. It is as phony as numerology,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-j-kilpatrick/astrology-is-the-sheerest-hokum-this-pseudoscience-has-been-around/) [James J. Kilpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-j-kilpatrick/) > [“I’d yearned for the darkness and repose of Hobie’s house, its crowded rooms and old-wood smell, tea leaves and tobacco smoke, bowls of oranges…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/i-d-yearned-for-the-darkness-and-repose-of-hobie-s-house-its-crowded/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [“I’m mesmerized by lipstick prints on coffee cups. By the lines of lips against white pottery. By the color chosen by the woman who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-leblanc/i-m-mesmerized-by-lipstick-prints-on-coffee-cups-by-the-lines-of-lips/) [Jeanette LeBlanc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-leblanc/) > [“What would you know about it?” he said. “Love, I mean.” Dorothea folded her soft white hands in her lap. “More than you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/what-would-you-know-about-it-he-said-love-i-mean-dorothea-folded-her/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [“How quiet is the house when the mistress has gone. You walk in, and the same smell is a comfort to you, the air…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-llewellyn/how-quiet-is-the-house-when-the-mistress-has-gone-you-walk-in-and-the/) [Richard Llewellyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-llewellyn/) > [My grandmother was this amazing woman in the Dominican Republic who used to read tea leaves and palms. She would cure people in her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/selenis-leyva/my-grandmother-was-this-amazing-woman-in-the-dominican-republic-who/) [Selenis Leyva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/selenis-leyva/) ## More by Sylvia Plath > [“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/it-was-a-queer-sultry-summer-the-summer-they-electrocuted-the/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [I love life. But it is hard and I have so much, so very much to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-love-life-but-it-is-hard-and-i-have-so-much-so-very-much-to-learn/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [... These are my hands My knees. I may be skin and bone, Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman. ... --Lady Lazarus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/these-are-my-hands-my-knees-i-may-be-skin-and-bone-nevertheless-i-am/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [Sure, I’m dramatic and sloppily semi-cynical and semi-sentimental. But, in leisure years I could grow and choose my way. Now I am living on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/sure-i-m-dramatic-and-sloppily-semi-cynical-and-semi-sentimental-but/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“People were made of nothing so much as dust, and I couldn't see that doctoring all that dust was a bit better than writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/people-were-made-of-nothing-so-much-as-dust-and-i-couldn-t-see-that/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“I couldn't stand the idea of a woman having to have a single pure life and a man being able to have a double…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-couldn-t-stand-the-idea-of-a-woman-having-to-have-a-single-pure/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [I saw the gooseflesh on my skin. I did not know what made it. I was not cold. Had a ghost passed over? No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-saw-the-gooseflesh-on-my-skin-i-did-not-know-what-made-it-i-was-not/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [I have to live my life, and it is the only one I’ll ever have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-have-to-live-my-life-and-it-is-the-only-one-i-ll-ever-have/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“The city had faded my tan, though. I looked yellow as a Chinaman. Ordinarily, I would have been nervous about my dress and my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/the-city-had-faded-my-tan-though-i-looked-yellow-as-a-chinaman/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [Joy:show joy & enjoy: then others will be joyful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/joy-show-joy-enjoy-then-others-will-be-joyful/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [A million years of evolution, Eric said bitterly, and what are we? Animals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/a-million-years-of-evolution-eric-said-bitterly-and-what-are-we/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“I have stitched life into me like a rare organ --from "Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices", written 1962”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-have-stitched-life-into-me-like-a-rare-organ-from-three-women-a/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [It is so much safer not to feel, not to let the world touch me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/it-is-so-much-safer-not-to-feel-not-to-let-the-world-touch-me/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“Flute Notes from a Reedy Pond" Now coldness comes sifting down, layer after layer, To our bower at the lily root. Overhead the old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/flute-notes-from-a-reedy-pond-now-coldness-comes-sifting-down-layer/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“The most saddening thing is to admit that I am not in love. I can only love (if that means self denial - or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/the-most-saddening-thing-is-to-admit-that-i-am-not-in-love-i-can-only/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) [Explore all 1,098 Sylvia Plath quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) ## More Ennui quotes > [I am fairly tired--bored beyond endurance--by the world we live in, and its ideals, and am ready to say so, not violently, but kindly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/i-am-fairly-tired-bored-beyond-endurance-by-the-world-we-live-in-and/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [In the aftermath of 9/11, people had not a good time, but a deep, profound, rousing time, woke up from their ennui and isolation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/in-the-aftermath-of-9-11-people-had-not-a-good-time-but-a-deep/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) > [To love to read is to exchange hours of ennui for hours of delight.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-love-to-read-is-to-exchange-hours-of-ennui-for-hours-of-delight/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One receives as reward for much ennui, despondency, boredom -such as a solitude without friends, books, duties, passions must bring with it -those quarter-hours…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/one-receives-as-reward-for-much-ennui-despondency-boredom-such-as-a/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Sitting to think of what to write will only set your ass on fire, give you headache, twist your face to look stupid, instead,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/sitting-to-think-of-what-to-write-will-only-set-your-ass-on-fire-give/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [You cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time contriving not to have tedious hours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/you-cannot-give-me-an-instance-of-any-man-who-is-permitted-to-lay-out/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“From the time I arrived in British East Africa at the indifferent age of four and went through the barefoot stage of early youth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/from-the-time-i-arrived-in-british-east-africa-at-the-indifferent-age/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [Pain, indolence, sterility, endless ennui have also their lesson for you, if you are great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/pain-indolence-sterility-endless-ennui-have-also-their-lesson-for-you/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Life creates itself in delirium and is undone in ennui.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/life-creates-itself-in-delirium-and-is-undone-in-ennui/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [“She could, she thinks, have entered a different life. She could have had a life as potent and dangerous as literature itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-cunningham/she-could-she-thinks-have-entered-a-different-life-she-could-have-had/) [Michael Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-cunningham/) > [As the gout seems privileged to attack the bodies of the wealthy, so ennui seems to exert a similar prerogative over their minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/as-the-gout-seems-privileged-to-attack-the-bodies-of-the-wealthy-so/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [“It seemed to Rosa Lublin that the whole peninsula of Florida was weighted down with regret. Everyone had left behind a real life. Here…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/it-seemed-to-rosa-lublin-that-the-whole-peninsula-of-florida-was/) [Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/) > [If you want to live in 'white world,' if you want to experience the stultifying boredom and penetrating ennui that homogeneity can bring, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-proops/if-you-want-to-live-in-white-world-if-you-want-to-experience-the/) [Greg Proops](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-proops/) > [Rousseau and his disciples were resolved to force men to be free; in most of the world, they triumphed; men are set free from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-kirk/rousseau-and-his-disciples-were-resolved-to-force-men-to-be-free-in/) [Russell Kirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-kirk/) > [Condition de l'homme: inconstance, ennui, inquie tude. Man's condition. Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/condition-de-l-homme-inconstance-ennui-inquie-tude-man-s-condition/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) [Browse all 132 Ennui quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ennui/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, designing futures where nothing will occur: cross the gypsy’s palm and yawning she will still predict no perils left to conquer. 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