It sometimes looks as though woman would not be woman unless man insisted upon it, since she tends so markedly to be just a human being when away from men, and only on their approach does she begin to play her required role. Florida Scott-Maxwell More Quotes by Florida Scott-Maxwell More Quotes From Florida Scott-Maxwell My kitchen linoleum is so black and shiny that I waltz while I wait for the kettle to boil. This pleasure is for the old who live alone. Florida Scott-Maxwell florida kitchen waiting Life does not acommodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to, and it couldn't do it better. Every seed destroys its container or else there would be no fruition. Florida Scott-Maxwell fruition would-be doe No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement. Florida Scott-Maxwell mothers-day family mom I wonder why love is so often equated with joy when it is everything else as well. Devastation, balm, obsession, granting and receiving excessive value, and losing it again. It is recognition, often of what you are not but might be. It sears and it heals. It is beyond pity and above law. It can seem like truth. Florida Scott-Maxwell law joy love-is You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. When you truly possess all you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality. When at last age has assembled you together, will it not be easy to let it all go, lived, balanced, over? Florida Scott-Maxwell age together reality Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting, and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate. I grow more intense as I age. To my own surprise I burst out with hot conviction. Only a few years ago I enjoyed my tranquility; now I am so disturbed by the outer world and by human quality in general that I want to put things right, as though I still owed a debt to life. I must calm down. I am far too frail to indulge in moral fervor. Florida Scott-Maxwell indulge-in years interesting life is a tragic mystery. We are pierced and driven by laws we only half understand, we find that the lesson we learn again and again is that of accepting heroic helplessness. Florida Scott-Maxwell lessons law life The enchantment of the sky, ever changing beauty almost ignored. Beyond words, without fixed form, not to be understood, or stated. It ravished away dullness, worry, even pain. It graces life when nothing else does. It is the first marvel of the day. Even when leaden grey it is still a friend, withdrawn for a time. Florida Scott-Maxwell pain worry sky I wonder if living alone makes one more alive. No precious energy goes in disagreement or compromise. No need to augment others, there is just yourself, just truth - a morsel - and you. Florida Scott-Maxwell solitude energy needs One cannot be honest even at the end of one's life, for no one is wholly alone. We are bound to those we love, or to those who love us, and to those who need us to be brave, or content, or even happy enough to allow them not to worry about us. So we must refrain from giving pain, as our last gift to our fellows. Florida Scott-Maxwell pain worry giving Difficulties are what makes it honorable and interesting to be alive. Florida Scott-Maxwell honorable alive interesting Is life a pregnancy? That would make death a birth. Florida Scott-Maxwell birth pregnancy death What fun it is to generalize in the privacy of a note book. It is as I imagine waltzing on ice might be. A great delicious sweep in one direction, taking you your full strength, and then with no trouble at all, an equally delicious sweep in the opposite direction. My note book does not help me think, but it eases my crabbed heart. Florida Scott-Maxwell heart fun book We must find out for ourselves, otherwise it wouldn't be discovery. Florida Scott-Maxwell discovery We who are old know that age is more than a disability. It is an intense and varied experience, almost beyond our capacity at times, but something to be carried high. Florida Scott-Maxwell disability intense age I grow more intense as I age. Florida Scott-Maxwell aging intense age Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate. I grow more intense as I age. Florida Scott-Maxwell passionate age interesting Claim the events of your life! When you posses all you have been and done, you are fierce with reality. Florida Scott-Maxwell events life reality The crucial task of old age is balance: keeping just well enough, just brave enough, just gay and interested and starkly honest enough to remain a sentient human being. Florida Scott-Maxwell balance gay bravery She [a mother] never outgrows the burden of love, and to the end she carries the weight of hope for those she bore. Oddly, very oddly, she is forever surprised and even faintly wronged that her sons and daughters are just people, for many mothers hope and half expect that their new-born child will make the world better, will somehow be a redeemer. Perhaps they are right, and they can believe that the rare quality they glimpsed in the child is active in the burdened adult. Florida Scott-Maxwell daughter mother children
