Reading was like a drug, a dope. The novels created moods in which I lived for days.
Anything seemed possible, likely, feasible, because I wanted everything to be possible... Because I had no power to make things happen outside of me in the objective world, I made things happen within. Because my environment was bare and bleak, I endowed it with unlimited potentialities, redeemed it for the sake of my own hungry and cloudy yearning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the power of imagination and belief in one's own potential to create change, even in difficult circumstances.
Richard Wright emphasizes the importance of inner vision and determination in transforming one's environment and outlook on life. Despite facing external limitations and a bleak reality, he suggests that by believing in endless possibilities and drawing from one's desires, an individual can create a sense of hope and potential within their own mind. This quote serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity to envision a better future through personal conviction and creativity.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles.
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.
I was not leaving the south to forget the south, but so that some day I might understand it
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.
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.
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.
Similar quotes
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our Democracy; Tonight is your answer.
Our dreams are luminous, a cast fire upon the world. Morning arrives and that's it. Sunlight darkens the earth.
Be cool and you'll be alright. That's rock & roll religion.
The days I see a Make-A-Wish kid are the best days of the week. It's a real privilege. I give them exactly what they give me - hope.
What's great about the geek spirit is that life never seems to stop us, and they never seem to kill our enthusiasm, our optimism and our hunger to experience the world. We keep our sense of humor, we protect our dignity, we talk to our friends about the experience and then we start again fresh the very next day.
I do small things. I try to do good things every day. _x000D_ If everyone does some good, think of what a good world this will be.