"One approaches the journey's end. But the end is a goal, not a catastrophe"
About this Quote
The pivot on “But” matters even more. Sand anticipates the reflex we’re trained into: end equals rupture, decline, catastrophe. She counters with a semantic swap that’s also a moral one. A “catastrophe” is something that happens to you; a “goal” is something you can move toward, choose, shape. The subtext is agency at the edge of life, the insistence that meaning isn’t cancelled by finitude but clarified by it. She doesn’t sentimentalize death; she refuses its monopoly on terror.
Context sharpens the intent. Sand lived through revolution, exile, public scandal, and the exhausting labor of self-invention as a woman writer in 19th-century France. Her work often treats freedom as something made, not granted. Read that way, the “journey’s end” isn’t just biological; it’s artistic and political. You don’t get spared the ending, but you can deny it the status of disaster. That’s not resignation. It’s discipline: the decision to meet the inevitable with a plan, not a collapse.
Quote Details
| Topic | Embrace Change |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Sand, George. (2026, January 15). One approaches the journey's end. But the end is a goal, not a catastrophe. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-approaches-the-journeys-end-but-the-end-is-a-164711/
Chicago Style
Sand, George. "One approaches the journey's end. But the end is a goal, not a catastrophe." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-approaches-the-journeys-end-but-the-end-is-a-164711/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"One approaches the journey's end. But the end is a goal, not a catastrophe." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/one-approaches-the-journeys-end-but-the-end-is-a-164711/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







