Quotes: Thresholds
A threshold is more than a line to cross: it is the instant that reorients a life toward risk, work, or revelation. The voices gathered here treat thresholds as openings that demand movement and courage rather than comfort. They range from the practical nudge of H. Jackson Brown Jr. to the ecstatic recognition of Harriet Tubman and the mythic doors described by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, creating a tension between dread and the promise of a fuller existence.
6 quotes on this theme, each with its source and insight
The quotes
“Hope is not a resting place but a starting point — a cactus, not a cushion.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording is widely attributed online to H. Jackson Brown Jr., but the supplied evidence does not cite a primary source in his published works.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is weakly supported and disputed: available references are mostly quotation collections rather than an original documented text.
The line reframes hope as a tough beginning rather than a soft refuge: an image of a cactus insists on resilience and effort instead of comfort. Its short, punchy style fits modern American inspirational aphorisms even though the original source is unknown.
“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
MisattributedWhat we know
- What is documented
- Available evidence finds no occurrence of this wording in Lewis’s published work; a close variant appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul credited to "Author Unknown."
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution to C. S. Lewis is unreliable: the ‘‘monkey bars’’ phrasing likely postdates Lewis and the true origin remains unestablished.
The image makes recovery feel tangible: progress sometimes demands letting go before you can move on. It’s a modern motivational analogy, widely shared online — but no primary source ties these exact words to C. S. Lewis.
“When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”
Source: Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, 1886 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The wording is recorded in Sarah H. Bradford's 1886 biography as Tubman's own recollection of her escape.
- What remains uncertain
- The quotation is transmitted via Bradford's book rather than a contemporaneous autograph by Tubman; minor wording variants appear in later retellings.
The line captures the shocking moment freedom becomes real: Tubman checks her own hands to confirm she is the same person, then sees the landscape transfigured. Sarah H. Bradford published this recollection in 1886, giving a vivid account of escape, identity, and awe.
“There are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
Disputed attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- Quote investigators report no evidence for this wording in Blake and trace a similar formulation to Ray Manzarek, cited in Newsweek (c.1967).
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution to Blake is likely apocryphal; similarity to Blake’s authentic «doors of perception» line seems to have encouraged the false credit.
The image of «doors» frames knowing as a threshold—what we perceive determines what we can know. The exact wording, however, is not found in Blake; it likely owes its form to later rock‑era paraphrases that echo Blake’s famous line about the doors of perception.
“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.”
Source: Women Who Run With the Wolves · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The phrasing is consistently attributed to Clarissa Pinkola Estés and is cited in connection with Women Who Run With the Wolves in reputable quote collections.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is well established across sources, though the strongest confirmation would be a direct page citation from the book; the examined indexes reproduce the passage without a primary-page image.
Estés frames certain pains and longings as threshold experiences that grant access to the deeper, instinctive Self. The passage, associated with Women Who Run With the Wolves, suggests that scars, old stories, and intense longing can become openings to a more embodied, sane life.
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
Source: Letters to Lucilius, 104.26
MisattributedWhat we know
- What is documented
- Editorial corrections identify the Latin sentence in Seneca's Moral Letters to Lucilius, letter 104, section 26.
- What remains uncertain
- Although often attributed to Renaud Dillies in modern compilations (linked to a comics context), that ascription is likely apocryphal and disputed.
The insight: daring often comes before success — hesitation makes problems loom larger. Rooted in Stoic moral writing, the line reframes difficulty as partly self-made. Although widely seen on modern quote pages, editorial work traces the saying back to Seneca.