“It's impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was, because of what you say can never be exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too many parts, sides, crosscurrents, nuances; too many gestures, which could mean this or that, too many shapes which can never be fully described, too many flavors, in the air or on the tongue, half-colors, too many.”
— Margaret Atwood
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Life is too beautifully complex to be captured in a single sentence. ✨ Margaret Atwood reminds us: “It's impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was, because of what you say can never be exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too many parts, sides, crosscurrents, nuances...” Instead of chasing perfection, let’s embrace the messy, wonderful nuances of our lived experiences. What is a feeling you've had that words simply couldn't describe? 👇
About this quote
We often spend our lives striving for a sense of perfect clarity, trying to capture our memories, our loves, and our truths in high definition. We want to explain ourselves perfectly and document our journeys with absolute precision. But as Margaret Atwood beautifully suggests, life is far too vast and intricate to be contained by the boundaries of language. There is a profound, hidden magic in the things we cannot describe—the subtle shift in a loved one's expression, the unnamable feeling of a sunset, or the messy, overlapping emotions of a turning point in our lives. Instead of seeing this inability to be 'exact' as a failure, let it be a liberation. This quote invites us to embrace the 'half-colors' and the 'crosscurrents' of our existence. It teaches us that the most meaningful parts of being human are often found in the nuances and the unspoken gestures that words can never quite reach. Don't be afraid of the parts of your story that feel unfinished or unexplainable; it is in that very complexity that your most authentic beauty resides.
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