Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there was it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away.
Interpretation
Life is uncertain, and seeking guarantees leads to stagnation.
Ray Bradbury emphasizes that trying to secure guarantees in life is a futile endeavor, as true fulfillment comes from embracing uncertainty and actively engaging with life. He uses the metaphor of a sloth to illustrate that those who seek safety and stability may end up missing out on life itself, metaphorically hanging upside down and drifting through their existence without purpose.
In practice
This quote can inspire people at a motivational seminar to embrace risks in their personal and professional lives.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.
Everything hangs on one's thinking.
Whoe'er imagines prudence all his own, Or deems that he hath powers to speak and judge Such as none other hath, when they are known, They are found shallow.
No matter what, we always have the power to choose hope over despair, engagement over apathy, kindness over indifference, enthusiasm over lethargy, love over hate. This is our true freedom. Whatever life may throw at us, we have the freedom and ability to choose our attitude. And I believe it is in those moments of choice that we manifest our destiny.
A vigorous temper is not altogether an evil. Men who are easy as an old shoe are generally of little worth.
When new turns of behavior cease to appear in the life of the individual, its behavior ceases to be intelligent.
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