Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.
Richard WrightRead
At the age of twelve I had an attitude toward life that was to endure, that was to make me seek those areas of living that would keep it alive, that was to make me skeptical of everything while seeking everything, tolerant of all and yet critical. The spirit I had caught gave me insight into the suffering of others, made me gravitate toward those whose feelings were like my own, made me sit for hours while others told me of their lives, made me strangely tender and cruel, violent and peaceful.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the author's complex perspective on life, characterized by a balance of skepticism and empathy.
Richard Wright's quote expresses how his experiences and introspections at a young age shaped his understanding of life and the human condition. He describes an attitude that is both critical and compassionate, enabling him to connect deeply with others while maintaining a critical view of existence. This duality—being both tender and cruel, violent and peaceful—highlights the complexities of human emotions and the nuanced perspective he developed through his life's journey.
Themes
LifeEmpathySkepticismAttitudeUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth, this quote serves as a reminder of the importance of empathy and understanding others.
More from Richard Wright
All quotes →It had been only through books-at best, no more than vicarious cultural transfusions-that I had managaed to keep myself alive in a negatively vital way. Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.
Richard WrightRead
I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it
Richard WrightRead
Hunger has always been more or less at my elbow when I played, but now I began to wake up at night to find hunger standing at my bedside, staring at my gauntly.
Richard WrightRead
He had lived and acted on the assumption that he was alone, and now he saw that he had not been. What he had done made others suffer. No matter how much he would long for them to forget him, they would not be able to. His family was a part of him, not only in blood, but in spirit.
Richard WrightRead
It made me love talk that sought answers to questions that could help nobody, that could only keep alive in me that enthralling sense of wonder and awe in the face of the drama of human feeling which is hidden by the external drama of life.
Richard WrightRead
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