Everyone deserves to be the hero of a novel.
William NicholsonRead
To put it another way, pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Why must it be pain? Why can't he rouse us more gently, with violins or laughter? Because the dream from which we must be wakened, is the dream that all is well.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Pain serves as a powerful reminder to awaken us to reality.
This quote suggests that pain has a significant role in human experience, acting as a loud signal from a higher power to awaken us from a false sense of security and complacency. It implies that soft and gentle reminders are often ignored, and thus more intense experiences like pain are necessary to jolt us into awareness of our true circumstances and the importance of living authentically.
Themes
PainAwakeningRealityStruggleLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
More from William Nicholson
All quotes →Similar quotes
The complexity of the connection between the world of perception and the world of physics does not preclude that such a connection can be shown to exist at any time.
Max HorkheimerRead
It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true
Bertrand RussellRead
I was not sure I wanted to issue orders to life; I rather liked the Greek notion of allowing Chance to take a formative hand in my affairs.
Robertson DaviesRead
The custom and fashion of today will be the awkwardness and outrage of tomorrow - so arbitrary are these transient laws.
Alexandre DumasRead
I long for the simplicity of theatre. I want lessons learned, comeuppances delivered, people sorted out, all before your bladder gets distractingly full. That's what I want. What I know is what we all know, whether we'll admit it or not: every attempt to impose the roundness of a well-made play on reality produces a disaster. Life just isn't so, nor will it be made so.
John M. FordRead
Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss, he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.
Thomas BrooksRead