I was convinced that birds were kinds of souls. Not the souls of people but of previous birds whose mystery and beauty were so necessary on earth that God would not allow them to be anything in their second life but birds again.

Howard Norman
About This Quote

The poet, Emily Dickinson was a Native American who grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was not educated at school but instead taught herself to read and write. Her parents were not happy with the idea of their daughter being educated at home but they gave her permission nonetheless. They hoped that she would marry well and have children of her own one day.

Emily Dickinson married a man named Charles Wadsworth in 1860 and they had three children together. However, she became emotionally attached to several cats that belonged to friends of hers. She would often go to sleep listening to the sound of their purring.

She shared her love for these animals with her sister Lavinia who had a special cat which she called “Sylph”. After one rainy night, Lavinia went home after taking an umbrella for protection from the rain. She left it on the kitchen table and walked out into the rain to take shelter outside.

When she came back inside, she found that her cat had drowned in one of the puddles on the kitchen floor. When Emily learned what had happened she was devastated and felt that there was no reason for this loss, that it must’ve been a punishment from God for something she had done wrong in life. Over time, however, Emily began to realize that this type of loss is a part of life and accepted it as a part of nature rather than a punishment from God or some other supernatural force.

Source: The Bird Artist

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Do you think I'm pretty? I think you're beautiful Beautiful? You are so beautiful, it hurts sometimes. - Richelle Mead
  2. As if you were on fire from within. The moon lives in the lining of your skin. - Pablo Neruda
  3. To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the... - Unknown
  4. The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely. - Louisa May Alcott
  5. A fit, healthy body–that is the best fashion statement - Jess C. Scott
More Quotes By Howard Norman
  1. I was convinced that birds were kinds of souls. Not the souls of people but of previous birds whose mystery and beauty were so necessary on earth that God would not allow them to be anything in their second life but birds again.
  2. My mother and Alexis had said no more than ten words to each other. The long silences were deafening
  3. There’s a Russian proverb: To taste the ocean, all you need is one gulp.
Related Topics