Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s book Gift from the Sea was originally published in 1955.
It is a collection of essays about love, marriage, youth, aging, calm, isolation, and satisfaction.
You can read the most inspiring quotes from the Gift from the Sea book below:
Table of Contents
Gift from the Sea Quotes by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“One must lose one’s life to find it. Woman can best refind herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“When you love someone you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can only collect a few. One moon shell is more impressive than three. There is only one moon in the sky.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what it was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“It is hard to recognize, or even to describe, but I think this freedom is the real reason the book continues to be so well loved and so well read after all these years. I am talking about the freedom that comes from choosing to remain open, as my mother did, to life itself, whatever it may bring: joys, sorrows, triumphs, failures, suffering, comfort, and certainly, always, change.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“The acquisitive instinct is incompatible with true appreciation of beauty.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“The collector walks with blinders on; he sees nothing but the prize.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
Other Books Quotes: The Red and the Black Quotes by Stendhal and The Love Poems of Rumi Quotes
Quotes from Gift from the Sea
“When you love someone you do not love them, all the time, in the exact same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Love does not consist in gazing at each other (one perfect sunrise gazing at another!) but in looking outward together in the same direction.”
“There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere. That is why so much of social life is exhausting; one is wearing a mask. I have shed my mask.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“This is what one thirsts for, I realize, after the smallness of the day, of work, of details, of intimacy – even of communication, one thirsts for the magnitude and universality of a night full of stars, pouring into one like a fresh tide.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Only when one is connected to one’s own core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be refound through solitude.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
Famous Gift from the Sea Quotes
“What release to write so that one forgets oneself, forgets one’s companion, forgets where one is or what one is going to do next–to be drenched in work as one is drenched in sleep or the sea.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Don’t wish me happiness
I don’t expect to be happy all the time…
It’s gotton beyond that somehow.
Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor.
I will need them all.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Woman must come of age by herself…
She must find her true center alone.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Every step, even a tentative one, counts.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“The shape of my life is, of course, determined by many things; my background and childhood, my mind and its education, my conscience and its pressures, my heart and its desires.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Eternally, woman spills herself away in driblets to the thirsty, seldom being allowed the time, the quiet, the peace, to let the pitcher fill up to the brim.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“I walked far down the beach, soothed by the rhythm of the waves, the sun on my bare back and legs, the wind and mist from the spray on my hair.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
Great Gift from the Sea Quotes
“The beach is not a place to work; to read, write or to think.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day- like writing a poem or saying a prayer.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Clothes, first. Of course, one needs less in the sun. But one needs less anyway, one finds suddenly. One does not need a closet-full, only a small suitcase-full.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Milky and opaque, it has the pinkish bloom of the sky on a summer evening, ripening to rain.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
Powerful Gift from the Sea Quotes
“When the heart is flooded with love there is no room in it for fear, for doubt, for hesitation.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“All living relationships are in process of change, of expansion, and must perpetually be building themselves new forms. But there is no single fixed form to express such a changing relationship.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea).
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