Quotes About Transition

His-his-history!' he cried. 'I declare the Stone Age at an end. History will start from tomorrow!

Don't you talk to me about progress. Progress just means bad things happen faster.

And Granny Weatherwax said, "I was younger when I last danced with you. But I am old now. There will be no more dances for me.

If the abnormal goes on long enough it becomes the normal. It was just that, when you came to explain it to a third party, it sounded odd.

He glanced at the sun which, old professional that it was, chose that moment to drop below the horizon.

Terry, to keep hoping for life in the midst of letting go is to rob me of the moment I am in.

What happens when we get old? he wondered. Where does the kid part of us go?

Then she walked out of his church, and back into her own world.

Do not try to force yourself back into this old life. It is like trying to fit into a pair of old trousers once you have grown taller. It no longer suits you. It never will again. It is best to admit this, lest you force the fit and look ridiculous. Better for the pants, better for you, better for all who would see you wear them.

When you begin to think of returning to your old life, flee, flee to the opposite direction. Or it will be very bad for all concerned. For then you will be divided, and then you will be of no use to anyone.

What had been urban and cosmopolitan in old Burma had vanished. And what was modern in the new Burma was alien. When the British quit and the Indians were forced to go, only village Burma would remain.

When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody's help in any way But now these days are gone and I'm not so self assured And now I find I've changed my mind, I've opened up the doors Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please, please help me?

To Be young is to be always ready to give up what we are in order to become what we must be. To be young is never to accept the irreparable.

JUSTINE: Is the story supposed to be jumping around like that, from Mary's head, to Diana's, to Beatrice's?

Rosy-fingered dawn indeed! This dawn was wearing gray gloves.

It's very confusing, being all of yourself. You'll find it quite uncomfortable for a while. But you'll get used to it. We all do.

For what am I now?' 'But a moment since, I was whole and one who could find delight in all things that were given me to do; but now I am as one who is lost and knows not his way.

as I go, like those others. I will not be here any more. He seemed to be going over each step in his mind—each step with which he was so familiar, only now, for the first time, he was living it for himself.

So they decided against me. Now I will have to go through that door after all,—like all those others. They'll draw the curtains for me, too. Into that other room—then back across the passage— saying good-bye as I go, like those others. I will not be here any more. He seemed to be going over each step in his mind—each step with which he was so familiar, only now, for the first time, he was living it for himself.

She moves as water moves, and comes to me, Stayed by what was, and pulled by what would be.

The grass says what the wind says: Begin with the rock; End with water.

Oh, to be something else, yet still to be!

I feel her presence in the common day, In that slow dark that widens every eye. She moves as water moves, and comes to me, Stayed by what was, and pulled by what would be.

I feel her presence in the common day, In that slow dark that widens every eye. She moves as water moves, and comes to me, Stayed by what was, and pulled by what would be. — Theodore Roethke, from "She," Words for the Wind: The Collected Verse of Theodore Roethke (Indiana University Press, 1964)