Some leave our life with tears, others with an insane frigidity; Mrs. Wilcox had taken the middle course, which only rarer natures can pursue. She had kept proportion. She had told a little of her grim secret to her friends, but not too much; she had shut up her heart--almost, but not entirely. It is thus, if there is any rule, that we ought to die--neither as victim nor as fanatic, but as the seafarer who can greet with an equal eye the deep that he is entering, and the shore that he must leave. E.m. Forster
About This Quote

In her last letter, Mrs. Wilcox revealed a little of her secrets to the people she loved, but she did not try to hide anything. She had let some of her friends see her vulnerable side, but she never completely opened up to anyone else. She had come to terms with her vulnerabilities just as she expected to die. She was able to face both her fear of death at the same time, which took courage and strength.

Source: Howards End

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