It's a crime how many overlooked authors are in American literature. Due to this tragic fact, only a number of readers can recognize the more famous Sylvia Plath quotes. Never heard of her? Not a strange thing to admit. Her poems and novel works are full of pessimism and realism. Hence the reason why she gets overlooked.
Before dwelling on the quotes themselves, it might be worth learning more about who Sylvia Plath was as a person and how special her creative abilities and style were.
If you want to understand Sylvia Plath's writing, you have to understand the life that she had. Plath had a life full of ups and many downs. Many of them stemmed from the fact that she was diagnosed with depression. She suffered from clinical depression for a very long time and had to undergo several electroconvulsive therapies throughout her life, all of which added to her problems.
Sylvia Plath is known for her confessional poetry style of writing poems. This type of poetry focuses more on the personal experiences of a poet. Plath is hailed as one of the best poets of this style, and it's clear why — her poems can evoke both grim and happy emotions. With around 445 poems, each one of them ranges in emotional impact.
One of her more memorable works might be the 1963 novel The Bell Jar. Quotes from The Bell Jar reveal what the book is about — Sylvia Plath's depression. Through these phrases we see how she handled it, what she learned from her experience, and how she thought that other people perceived her. Some quotes are rather pessimistic, but you can also find sayings that ooze a certain kind of positivity too.
To shine more light on her work, you might want to read up on some of her work below. Make sure to upvote The Bell Jar quotes that you liked the most. On the other hand, if you have anything to share about this American poet, do so in the comments below.
#1
“My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Bell Jar'
unknown
Report9points
#2
“Is anyone anywhere happy?” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report9points
#3
“I desire the things which will destroy me in the end.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report8points
#4
“If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Bell Jar'
unknown
Report8points
#5
“If they substituted the word 'Lust' for 'Love' in the popular songs it would come nearer the truth.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report8points
#6
“Is there no way out of the mind?” — Sylvia Plath
unknown
Report8points
#7
“Can you understand? Someone, somewhere, can you understand me a little, love me a little? For all my despair, for all my ideals, for all that — I love life. But it is hard, and I have so much — so very much to learn.” ― Sylvia Plath,
unknown
Report8points
#8
“Why can't I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which fits best and is more becoming?” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#9
“I like people too much or not at all. I've got to go down deep, to fall into people, to really know them.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#10
“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Bell Jar'
unknown
Report7points
#11
“The silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Bell Jar'
unknown
Report7points
#12
“I couldn't see the point of getting up. I had nothing to look forward to.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Bell Jar'
unknown
Report7points
#13
“I may never be happy, but tonight I am content.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#14
“I feel outcast on a cold star, unable to feel anything but an awful helpless numbness.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#15
“What I fear most, I think, is the death of the imagination. When the sky outside is merely pink, and the rooftops merely black: that photographic mind which paradoxically tells the truth, but the worthless truth, about the world.” — Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#16
“I am afraid. I am not solid, but hollow. I feel behind my eyes a numb, paralyzed cavern, a pit of hell, mimicking nothingness. I never thought. I never wrote, I never suffered.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#17
“I am gone quite mad with the knowledge of accepting the overwhelming number of things I can never know, places I can never go, and people I can never be.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#18
“There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Bell Jar'
unknown
Report7points
#19
“I have room in me for love. And for ever so many little lives.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points
#20
“Kiss me, and you will see how important I am.” – Sylvia Plath, 'The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath'
unknown
Report7points