A small carved wooden horse with a knotted rope mane and a comb beside it on green felt.

Original artwork, not a still

Nine Stories

J.D. Salinger

Life is a gift horse in my opinion.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Salinger's speaker calls life a gift horse, echoing the saying about never looking one in the mouth. In their opinion, life is something given, so you shouldn't pick at it. It's a quiet nudge toward gratitude over fault-finding.

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