“His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck's nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan's egg.”
Fairy Tales (1835)
Source: The Ugly Duckling
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Hans Christian Andersen41
Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet 1805–1875Related quotes
Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments
Imogen and Jace, pg. 78
The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)
Robert A. Heinlein book Time for the Stars
Source: Time for the Stars (1956), Chapter 8, “Relativity” (p. 82)
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
The memories are deeply humiliating in two ways: they remind the adult that he was once more ignorant and gullible and emotional than he is; and they remind him that he once was, potentially, far more than he is.
“An Unread Book”, p. 19
The Third Book of Criticism (1969)
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist
it is almost as if the grown, successful swan had repressed most of the memories of the duckling’s miserable, embarrassing, magical beginnings. (The memories are deeply humiliating in two ways: they remind the adult that he was once more ignorant and gullible and emotional than he is; and they remind him that he once was, potentially, far more than he is.)
“An Unread Book”, p. 19
The Third Book of Criticism (1969)
Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)
Source: "The Storyteller" (1936), p. 91
Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory
Source Book in Ancient Philosophy (1907), The Golden Sayings of Democritus
“Never look for birds of this year in the nests of the last.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 74.