It was always the becoming he dreamed of, never the being.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of striving and aspiring over simply existing.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote reflects the idea that the journey of personal growth and transformation is more valuable than merely reaching a state of existence. It suggests that dreams and aspirations shape our lives, and the process of becoming who we want to be is what fuels our passion and purpose, rather than just achieving a static state of being.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to inspire personal development.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This (illness) is what I have wanted all my life from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in Godβs hands.
To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury.
I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted.
However great the exertion of our mind may be to comprehend the Divine Being or any of the ideals, we find a screen and partition between Him and ourselves. Thus the prophets frequently hint at the existence of a partition between God and us.
The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is.
Life at court does not satisfy a man, but it keeps him from being satisfied with anything else.
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