And it was always the stories that needed the telling that gave us the rope we could cross any river with. They balanced us high above any crevasse. They made us be natural acrobats. They made us brave. They met us well. They changed us. It was in their nature to.
Interpretation
Stories are essential for personal growth and overcoming challenges.
This quote by Ali Smith emphasizes the transformative power of stories in our lives. It suggests that the narratives we encounter are not just tales to be told; they provide us with the strength and courage to navigate life's challenges, shaping who we are and enriching our experiences. Through stories, we learn to balance our fears and face obstacles with bravery, ultimately leading to personal change and growth.
In practice
In a motivational speech about resilience, one might use this quote to illustrate how stories empower individuals.
Tonight I can smell the season the way it's usually only possible to at the very first moments of its return, before you're used to it, when you've forgotten its smell, then there it is back in the air and the flow of things shifting and resettling again.
It's about the connecting force from form to form. It's the toe bone connecting to the shoulder bone. It's the bacterial kick of life force, something growing out of nothing, forming itself out of something else. Form never stops. And form is always environmental.
Google is so strange. It promises everything, but everything isn’t there. You type in the words for what you need, and what you need becomes superfluous in an instant, shadowed instantaneously by the things you really need, and none of them answerable by Google.
Books mean all possibilities. They mean moving out of yourself, losing yourself, dying of thirst and living to your full. They mean everything.
It's a constant challenge to get your arrangement and musical expression across to a new audience, especially when you're playing live every night like we are.
Madness is the absolute break with the work of art; it forms the constitutive moment of abolition, which dissolves in time the truth of the work of art.
The Japanese have a wonderful sense of design and a refinement in their art. They try to produce beautiful paintings with the minimum number of strokes.
You can understand nothing about art, particularly modern art, if you do not understand that imagination is a value in itself.
I don't know what gives me more pleasure: watching my story unfold or going in and watching a room full of black people talking for me and writing words for black people.
I believe it is in my nature to dance by virtue of the beat of my heart, the pulse of my blood and the music in my mind.
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