---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled…"
description: "\"“McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as if from the cold shock of water. ”\" — Thomas Wolfe"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png"
---

#  McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as if from the…

![“McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as if from the cold shock of water.” quote by Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png)

> ““McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as if from the cold shock of water. ””

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A vivid physical reaction to an intense emotional shock, likened to a cold plunge.

**In simple terms:** Intense shock feels like cold water.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and manage sudden emotional impacts.

Themes

emotion shock physical reaction literary description

Mood

intense reflective

Type

literary descriptive

When to use this quote

- personal crisis
- artistic inspiration
- stress response

Key Concepts

psychology sensory metaphor

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you physically react to emotional shock?
- What helps you calm after a sudden jolt?

A Different Perspective

Such metaphors may exaggerate feelings, reducing clarity.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Burlily Cold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burlily-cold-268649/) [Cold Shock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cold-shock-268648/) [Recoiled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recoiled-268647/) [Recoiled Burlily](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recoiled-burlily-268646/) [Shoulders Recoiled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shoulders-recoiled-268645/)

## Related quotes

> [“I recoiled with a thud of recognition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/genie-frisbee/i-recoiled-with-a-thud-of-recognition/)

[Genie Frisbee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/genie-frisbee/)

> [“i even tried to bury myself alive but the dirt recoiled you have already rotted it said there is nothing left for me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupi-kaur/i-even-tried-to-bury-myself-alive-but-the-dirt-recoiled-you-have/)

[Rupi Kaur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupi-kaur/)

> [“Liam recoiled as if I'd hoofed him in the danglies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jocelyn-adams/liam-recoiled-as-if-i-d-hoofed-him-in-the-danglies/)

[Jocelyn Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jocelyn-adams/)

> [“I was aware of the time slipping away so quickly and I was hideously afraid that I would never have another chance to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephenie-meyer/i-was-aware-of-the-time-slipping-away-so-quickly-and-i-was-hideously/)

[Stephenie Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephenie-meyer/)

> [She never inquired, but she never recoiled, either. This is a quality that I look for in a person, not recoiling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-july/she-never-inquired-but-she-never-recoiled-either-this-is-a-quality/)

[Miranda July](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-july/)

> [“Retra recoiled from his dangling nakedness...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-de-pierres/retra-recoiled-from-his-dangling-nakedness/)

[Marianne de Pierres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-de-pierres/)

> [“He would have recoiled still more had he been aware that her attachment rose unsolicited, and was bestowed where it awakened no reciprocation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-bronte/he-would-have-recoiled-still-more-had-he-been-aware-that-her/)

[Emily Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-bronte/)

> [“He'd been coiled like a snake for years and the tension had gone slack and when he was ready to spring the spring wasn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/he-d-been-coiled-like-a-snake-for-years-and-the-tension-had-gone/)

[Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/)

> [I grew up craving the spotlight, and once it happened, I immediately recoiled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-fox/i-grew-up-craving-the-spotlight-and-once-it-happened-i-immediately/)

[Megan Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-fox/)

## More by Thomas Wolfe

> [“So all were gone at last, one by one, each swept out into the mighty flood tide of the city's life, there to prove,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/so-all-were-gone-at-last-one-by-one-each-swept-out-into-the-mighty/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“A stick is not only wood but the negation of wood. It is the meeting in space of wood and no-wood. A stick is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/a-stick-is-not-only-wood-but-the-negation-of-wood-it-is-the-meeting/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/all-things-on-earth-point-home-in-old-october-sailors-to-sea/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“At these repeated signs of decadence in a society which had once been the object of his envy and his highest ambition, Webber's face…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/at-these-repeated-signs-of-decadence-in-a-society-which-had-once-been/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [If a man has talent and can't use it, he's failed. If he uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/if-a-man-has-talent-and-can-t-use-it-he-s-failed-if-he-uses-only-half/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [There came to him an image of man’s whole life upon the earth. It seemed to him that all man’s life was like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/there-came-to-him-an-image-of-man-s-whole-life-upon-the-earth-it/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“He had learned some of the things that every man must find out for himself, and he had found out about them as one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/he-had-learned-some-of-the-things-that-every-man-must-find-out-for/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/what-i-had-to-face-the-very-bitter-lesson-that-everyone-who-wants-to/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/the-mountains-were-his-masters-they-rimmed-in-life-they-were-the-cup/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“For four years he lived in Brooklyn, and four years in Brooklyn are a geologic age -- a single stratum of grey time. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/for-four-years-he-lived-in-brooklyn-and-four-years-in-brooklyn-are-a/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“Eugene looked with passionate devotion at that grand old head, calm, wise and comforting. In a moment of vision, he saw that, for him,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/eugene-looked-with-passionate-devotion-at-that-grand-old-head-calm/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [Each moment is the fruit of forty thousand years. The minute-winning days, like flies, buzz home to death, and every moment is a window…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/each-moment-is-the-fruit-of-forty-thousand-years-the-minute-winning/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“Among other things Jonestown was an example of a definition well known to sociologists of religion: a cult is a religion with no political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/among-other-things-jonestown-was-an-example-of-a-definition-well/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [“They clung together in that bright moment of wonder, there on the magic island, where the world was quiet, believing all they said. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/they-clung-together-in-that-bright-moment-of-wonder-there-on-the/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

> [Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/loneliness-is-and-always-has-been-the-central-and-inevitable/)

[Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

[Explore all 109 Thomas Wolfe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as if from the cold shock of water. ”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Thomas Wolfe"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burlily-as-if-from-the-cold-shock/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Shoulders Recoiled"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burlily-as-if-from-the-cold-shock/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff9/thomas-wolfe-4237_shoulders-recoiled_mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burli_1620813.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as if from the cold shock of water.” — Thomas Wolfe",
                "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": "Thomas Wolfe",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“McGuire's meaty shoulders recoiled burlily as...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burlily-as-if-from-the-cold-shock/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/mcguire-s-meaty-shoulders-recoiled-burlily-as-if-from-the-cold-shock/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
