Quote

So I’m reading through an old journal (from 2003 or thereabouts) and I came across what was apparently my favorite quote from Atlas Shrugged, which I was reading at the time.

“She thought that if it were possible for her to stand looking at him […] she would wish to spend the rest of her life on this spot and in this manner. And in the next instance she knew that if her wish were granted, the contemplation would lose all meaning, because she would have betrayed all the things that gave it value.”

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erinreeve

I'm a young, childless widow who is trying to figure out the best way to deal with the world in light of my late husband's suicide. It's harder than I ever imagined it would be, but somehow at the same time I am still alive and even happy sometimes.

2 thoughts on “Quote”

  2. Well – to me, it means basically that if you get what you want, you don’t want it anymore. That’s a base way to say it though. Another way — part of the special-ness and impact of something beautiful is that you appreciate it because it won’t last. You know that poem by Robert Frost – Nothing Gold Can Stay? The fact that it won’t stay is essential to enjoying the golden in nature; if it lasted forever, it wouldn’t be special or notable. Does that make any sense?

    Anyway, that’s what I take from that quote.

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