Quote of the day by Virginia Woolf: “If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was an English novelist, essayist and biographer. While her personal life was full of challenges, her position in the literary realm was pivotal.

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”

Explanation:  In this quote, the author implies that self honesty is the foundation on which people try to understand others.

In other words, a person who fears meeting their own self in the mirror and pretends to be someone else is likely to not make efforts in knowing others. The author suggests that if one runs away from their own complexities, they are unlikely to see it in others.

Also, their flawed vision will enable them to project their own hidden away parts or desires onto others. 

For instance, a person who seeks perfectionism in oneself and doesn't wish to make errors like others around them won’t easily tolerate mistakes in others. This can make them disconnected from their own humanness and emotionally distant from other people.

In today’s context, these lines imply that working on one’s emotional body is one way to know oneself and it allows us to see others in a more realistic mirror.

About the author: Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was an English novelist, essayist and biographer. 

Born to a middle class English family, she was primarily educated by private tutors at home. Her life was marked by a series of unfortunate events like deaths in family and her frail mental health.

She was allowed an uncensored access to her father’s library and aspired to be a writer.

While her personal life was full of challenges, her position in the literary realm was pivotal. Her writings revolutionised 20th century literature, shifting focus from an external plot to internal consciousness. 

She also had a notable influence on the feminist movement, particularly the second wave where her ideas spoke for women’s intellectual freedom.