QuoteProject
Why do we smile? Why do we laugh? Why do we feel alone? Why are we sad and confused? Why do we read poetry? Why do we cry when we see a painting? Why is there a riot in the heart when we love? Why do we feel shame? What is that thing in the pit of your stomach called desire?
Benjamin Alire Saenz
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote explores the complexities of human emotions and the reasons behind them.

In this quote, Benjamin Alire Sáenz reflects on the myriad emotions that define the human experience, prompting deep introspection about feelings such as joy, sadness, love, and desire. By asking a series of profound questions, he encourages readers to contemplate the reasons behind their emotional responses and the interconnectedness of art, literature, and individual experiences.

Themes

EmotionsHuman ExperienceArtIntrospectionFeelings

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of understanding our emotions at a psychology seminar.

More from Benjamin Alire Saenz

I wondered about the science of storms and how sometimes it seemed that a storm wanted to break the world and how the world refused to break.
Benjamin Alire SaenzRead
Words were different when they lived inside of you.
Benjamin Alire SaenzRead
I wondered what that was like, to hold someone’s hand. I bet you could sometimes find all of the mysteries of the universe in someone’s hand.
Benjamin Alire SaenzRead
Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers. Summers had a logic all their own and they always brought something out in me. Summer was supposed to be about freedom and youth and no school and possibilities and adventure and exploration. Summer was a book of hope. That's why I loved and hated summers. Because they made me want to believe.
Benjamin Alire SaenzRead

Similar quotes

This is what those who haven’t crossed the tropic of grief often fail to understand: the fact that someone is dead may mean that they are not alive, but doesn’t mean that they do not exist.
Julian BarnesRead
...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
Because I'm a woman writing about women who do bad things, that's somehow very 'other.' When men write that, it's called a novel. It's just a book.
Gillian FlynnRead
Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.
J. K. RowlingRead
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Sigmund FreudRead
The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely that man is descended from some lowly-organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many persons. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians.
Charles DarwinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Benjamin Alire Saenz | QuoteProject