Quote of the Day: Siegfried Sassoon on Life & Wisdom

If you’ve been trying to “fix” yourself by choosing one version, soft or strong, calm or driven, let this line give you permission to be whole. “In me the tiger sniffs the rose.” With one image, Siegfried Sassoon reminds us that our inner life isn’t a neat portrait; it’s a living ecosystem.

The tiger is the part of you that charges: ambition, appetite, protective anger, the instinct to win. The rose is the part that notices: beauty, tenderness, the willingness to feel. Most of our trouble comes from pretending we can only host one guest at a time. We over-identify with the tiger and become blunt. Or we cling to the rose and become avoidant. Sassoon’s genius is the verb: the tiger doesn’t pounce, it sniffs. Power pauses. Instinct becomes attentive.

Try applying this at the exact moment you’re about to react. Before you send the sharp message, before you shut down, before you overwork to prove something, ask: can my tiger sniff the rose for ten seconds? Breathe once. Name what you’re protecting. Then name what you value. That small gap creates choice, and choice is where courage lives.

As a decorated WWI officer and one of the era’s defining war poets, Siegfried Sassoon earned his authority the hard way, through firsthand violence, moral clarity, and language precise enough to hold both grief and grace.

Today, practice a restrained strength: do one brave act with gentleness, give honest feedback without contempt, set one boundary without anger, or take a focused walk and notice one beautiful thing on purpose. May your power learn reverence, and may your tenderness stay fierce with resilience.