To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
Ask anyone committed to Marxist analysis how many angels on the head of a pin, and you will be asked in return to never mind the angels, tell me who controls the production of pins.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the tendency to focus on abstract philosophical questions rather than practical, real-world concerns.
Joan Didion's quote reflects a critique of intellectual debates that prioritize esoteric questions over tangible issues. By using the metaphor of angels on the head of a pin, Didion highlights the absurdity of discussing irrelevant topics while ignoring the pressing matters of power and control in society, specifically the production and economic structures that affect people's lives. It suggests that a practical approach to understanding the world is more valuable than indulging in theoretical distractions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about economic inequality, you might use this quote to emphasize the need to focus on who wields power in society.
More from Joan Didion
All quotes →The truth is, it's easier for me to write than talk... to express the state I'm in at any time.
Memories are what you no longer want to remember.
It was clear, for example, in 1988 that the political process had already become perilously remote from the electorate it was meant to represent.
I mean maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?
Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.
Similar quotes
A true libertarian supports free enterprise, opposes big business; supports local self-government, opposes the nation-state; supports the National Rifle Association, opposes the Pentagon.
Wherever politics tries to be redemptive, it is promising too much. Where it wishes to do the work of God, it becomes not divine, but demonic.
I know that I have lived because I have felt, and, feeling giving me the knowledge of my existence.
Look in the mirror and one thing is sure: what we see is not who we are.
So long as the laws remain such as they are today, employ some discretion: loud opinion forces us to do so; but in privacy and silence let us compensate ourselves for that cruel chastity we are obliged to display in public.
The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man.