In her novel Regeneration, Pat Barker writes of a doctor who 'knew only too well how often the early stages of change or cure may mimic deterioration. Cut a chrysalis open, and you will find a rotting caterpillar. What you will never find is that mythical creature, half caterpillar, half butterfly, a fit emblem of the human soul, for those whose cast of mind leads them to seek such emblems. No, the process of transformation consists almost entirely of decay. . Rebecca Solnit
About This Quote

Pat Barker captures in her novel "Regeneration" the reality of life in the medical profession. There is no glory in curing patients; instead there is decay. People who are healed lose their ailment, but never gain the grandeur of becoming grand again. The beauty in life comes when we are able to rise above our circumstances and find new ways to become healthy and strong again.

Source: A Field Guide To Getting Lost

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Making love to me is amazing. Wait, I meant: making love, to me, is amazing. The absence of two little commas nearly transformed me into a sex god.
 - Unknown

  2. How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see... - Rainer Maria Rilke

  3. When you become the image of your own imagination, it's the most powerful thing you could ever do. - RuPaul

  4. Where's Simon?" Clary interrupted. Isabelle wobbled. "He's a rat, " she said darkly. Did he do something to you?" Alec was full of brotherly concern. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>"Did he touch you? If he tried anything-"" She's drunk, " said Jace, beginning to turn away in... - Cassandra Clare

  5. Two hundred Romans, and no one’s got a pen? Never mind! " He slung his M16 onto his back and pulled out a hand grenade. There were many screaming Romans. Then the hand grenade morphed into a ballpoint pen, and Mars began to write. Frank... - Rick Riordan

More Quotes By Rebecca Solnit
  1. The desire to go home that is a desire to be whole, to know where you are, to be the point of intersection of all the lines drawn through all the stars, to be the constellation-maker and the center of the world, that center called...

  2. Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.

  3. How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?" (Plato) The things we want are transformative, and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation. Love, wisdom, grace,...

  4. Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the...

  5. The positive emotions that arise in...unpromising circumstances demonstrate that social ties and meaningful work are deeply desired, readily improvised, and intensely rewarding. The very structure of our economy and society prevent these goals from being achieved.

Related Topics