--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is still beautiful to hear the heart…" description: "\"It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat but often the shadow seems more real than the body.\" — Tomas Transtromer" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg" --- # It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat but often the… ![“It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat but often the shadow seems more real than the body.” quote by Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg) > “It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat but often the shadow seems more real than the body.” [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote reflects on the paradox of finding beauty in life's fundamental signs while feeling that intangible, darker aspects dominate perception. **In simple terms:** Life's core can feel eclipsed by its shadows. Key Takeaway Beauty persists despite overwhelming darkness. Themes existentialism perception beauty shadow human experience Mood melancholic thoughtful poetic Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - contemplating mortality - artistic inspiration - psychological introspection - spiritual reflection Key Concepts heartbeats reality subjectivity Practical Applications - creative writing - therapeutic counseling Questions to Reflect On - What does it mean to find beauty in the ordinary? - How do shadows shape our understanding of self? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beats/) [Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Hear Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hear-heart-254268/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Heart beat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart-beat/) [Invisible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invisible/) [Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) [Shadow Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow-real-711646/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) ## Related quotes > [“I consider a dream like I consider a shadow,” answered Caeiro, with his usual divine, unexpected promptitude. “A shadow is real, but it’s less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lvaro-de-campos/i-consider-a-dream-like-i-consider-a-shadow-answered-caeiro-with-his/) [Álvaro de Campos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lvaro-de-campos/) > [Even if your a million miles away, I still can hear your heart beat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/semeen-mahbub/even-if-your-a-million-miles-away-i-still-can-hear-your-heart-beat/) [Semeen Mahbub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/semeen-mahbub/) > [I was given a stethoscope in a child's 'doctor's bag' at about age six and I loved it! One could hear the heart beating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessye-norman/i-was-given-a-stethoscope-in-a-child-s-doctor-s-bag-at-about-age-six/) [Jessye Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessye-norman/) > [Although I'm a thousand miles away from you, I can hear you in every heart beat. I can't spend one moment without thinking of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/although-i-m-a-thousand-miles-away-from-you-i-can-hear-you-in-every/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am completely, entirely against abortion by all means. You can hear the heart beat at two weeks...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-am-completely-entirely-against-abortion-by-all-means-you-can-hear/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let your heart beat for music. Don't be a DJ for the wrong reasons, do it because you have a passion for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-lee/let-your-heart-beat-for-music-don-t-be-a-dj-for-the-wrong-reasons-do/) [Jennifer Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-lee/) > [Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, Drowning love's lonely hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/beloved-let-your-eyes-half-close-and-your-heart-beat-over-my-heart/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [The moment one starts sharing one's being without any motive life becomes a sweet fragrance. It is all honey. Then everything remains the same,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/the-moment-one-starts-sharing-one-s-being-without-any-motive-life/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [Different hearts beat on different strings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-peart/different-hearts-beat-on-different-strings/) [Neil Peart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-peart/) > [your morse code interferes with my heart beat. I had a steady heart before you, I replied upon it, it had seen active service…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/your-morse-code-interferes-with-my-heart-beat-i-had-a-steady-heart/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [Laughter is the best way To make somebody's heart beat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-holden/laughter-is-the-best-way-to-make-somebody-s-heart-beat/) [Robert Holden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-holden/) > [My heart beats, echoes into the cold streets where nightmares and darkness begin to meet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyga/my-heart-beats-echoes-into-the-cold-streets-where-nightmares-and/) [Tyga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyga/) > [Could she smell my breath? Could she hear my cursed circular heart beat revolving like the crime it is in my deathly chest?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-zusak/could-she-smell-my-breath-could-she-hear-my-cursed-circular-heart/) [Markus Zusak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-zusak/) > [My heart beats so hard it hurts, and I can't scream and I can't breathe, but I also feel everything, every vein and every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/my-heart-beats-so-hard-it-hurts-and-i-can-t-scream-and-i-can-t/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [To you I belong.My heart beats only for you.No other will tempt me,from this day and beyond.To you I belong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gena-showalter/to-you-i-belong-my-heart-beats-only-for-you-no-other-will-tempt-me/) [Gena Showalter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gena-showalter/) ## More by Tomas Transtromer > [A ship's engine far away on the water expands the summer-night horizon. Both joy and sorrow swell in the dew's magnifying glass. Without really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/a-ship-s-engine-far-away-on-the-water-expands-the-summer-night/) [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [I am carried in my shadow like a violin in its black case](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/i-am-carried-in-my-shadow-like-a-violin-in-its-black-case/) [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [“Thank you for this life! Still I miss the alternatives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/thank-you-for-this-life-still-i-miss-the-alternatives/) [Tomas Tranströmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [We always feel younger than we are. I carry inside myself my earlier faces, as a tree contains its rings. 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Don't be ashamed because you're human: be proud! Inside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/every-abstract-picture-of-the-world-is-as-impossible-as-a-blueprint/) [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [“Jag som älskar att ströva och försvinna i mängden, en bokstav T i den oändliga textmassan.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/jag-som-lskar-att-str-va-och-f-rsvinna-i-m-ngden-en-bokstav-t-i-den-o/) [Tomas Tranströmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [Sometimes my life opened its eyes in the dark. A feeling as if crowds drew through the streets in blindness and anxiety on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/sometimes-my-life-opened-its-eyes-in-the-dark-a-feeling-as-if-crowds/) [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [In the middle of life, death comes to take your measurements. The visit is forgotten and life goes on. But the suit is being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/in-the-middle-of-life-death-comes-to-take-your-measurements-the-visit/) [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [“The gentle downward slope gets steeper and imperceptibly becomes an abyss.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/the-gentle-downward-slope-gets-steeper-and-imperceptibly-becomes-an/) [Tomas Tranströmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [“Every person is a half-opened door leading to a room for everyone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/every-person-is-a-half-opened-door-leading-to-a-room-for-everyone/) [Tomas Transtromer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [“I wrote so meagerly to you. But what I couldn't write swelled and swelled like an old-fashioned airship and drifted away at last through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/i-wrote-so-meagerly-to-you-but-what-i-couldn-t-write-swelled-and/) [Tomas Tranströmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) > [“Every abstract picture of the world is as impossible as a blueprint of a storm,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/every-abstract-picture-of-the-world-is-as-impossible-as-a-blueprint-2/) [Tomas Tranströmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) [Explore all 24 Tomas Transtromer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/) ## More Beats quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [So many things beat upon us in a lifetime that simply enduring may seem almost beyond us… But the test a loving God has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/so-many-things-beat-upon-us-in-a-lifetime-that-simply-enduring-may/) [Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/) > [The Beat Generation, that was a vision that we had, John Clellon Holmes and I, and Allen Ginsberg in an even wilder way, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/the-beat-generation-that-was-a-vision-that-we-had-john-clellon-holmes/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [Certainly these are not easy times. But history does not contain very many easy times. Years from now, we will look back at this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingraham/certainly-these-are-not-easy-times-but-history-does-not-contain-very/) [Laura Ingraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingraham/) > [I usually write from the rhythm section...If a drummer got a funky beat on some things - like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miles-davis/i-usually-write-from-the-rhythm-section-if-a-drummer-got-a-funky-beat/) [Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miles-davis/) > [If you don't like club beats take a HIT OF E and you will love the music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-mccarty/if-you-don-t-like-club-beats-take-a-hit-of-e-and-you-will-love-the/) [Kevin McCarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-mccarty/) > [Every pitcher can beat you, it doesn't matter how good you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-bonds/every-pitcher-can-beat-you-it-doesn-t-matter-how-good-you-are/) [Barry Bonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-bonds/) > [Only two to three per cent of an audience is interested in words and pays attention to lyrics; most of the rest of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-stewart/only-two-to-three-per-cent-of-an-audience-is-interested-in-words-and/) [Al Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-stewart/) > [Joel Lane documents a life we don’t quite live, in a city we can’t quite find: half glimpsed and half imagined, we know it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-brenchley/joel-lane-documents-a-life-we-don-t-quite-live-in-a-city-we-can-t/) [Chaz Brenchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaz-brenchley/) > [Practice to beat the best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-bennett/practice-to-beat-the-best/) [Dick Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-bennett/) > [I don't know about the rest of the world, but I know in our region everyone is gunning to beat us. 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They hop around so merrily outside my window, looking so innocent. but I know that secretly, they're watching my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-don-t-like-small-birds-they-hop-around-so-merrily-outside-my-window/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 3,311 Beats quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beats/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat but often the shadow seems more real than the body.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tomas Transtromer" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart-beat-but-often-the-shadow/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Beats" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart-beat-but-often-the-shadow/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/tomas-transtromer-20280_beats_it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart_49703.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat but often the shadow seems more real than the body.” — Tomas Transtromer", "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": "Tomas Transtromer", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tomas-transtromer/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is still beautiful to hear...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart-beat-but-often-the-shadow/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tomas-transtromer/it-is-still-beautiful-to-hear-the-heart-beat-but-often-the-shadow/#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 } } ] } ```