Life never presents us with anything which may not be looked upon as a fresh starting point, no less than as a termination.
Andre GideRead
Throw away my book: you must understand that it represents only one of a thousand attitudes. You must find your own. If someone else could have done something as well as you, don’t do it. If someone else could have said something as well as you, don’t say it—or written something as well as you, don’t write it. Grow fond only of that which you can find nowhere but in yourself, and create out of yourself, impatiently or patiently, ah! that most irreplaceable of beings.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of individuality and self-expression in creativity and life choices.
Andre Gide encourages people to seek their own unique voice and to avoid merely replicating the ideas or works of others. He suggests that true value lies in discovering and nurturing what is inherently within oneself, thereby promoting genuine self-expression and creativity, whether it is done with urgency or patience. The essence of the quote is a call to authenticity and personal growth.
Themes
IndividualitySelf-ExpressionAuthenticityCreativityPersonal Growth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a workshop focused on creative writing to inspire originality.
More from Andre Gide
All quotes →Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself but what you feel exists nowhere else. And, out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, the most irreplaceable of beings.
Andre GideRead
Old hands soil, it seems, whatever they caress, but they too have their beauty when they are joined in prayer. Young hands were made for caresses and the sheathing of love. It is a pity to make them join too soon.
Andre GideRead
Through fear of resembling one another, through horror of having to submit, through uncertainty as well, through skepticism and complexity, there is a multitude of individual little beliefs for the triumph of strange little individuals.
Andre GideRead
It is the special quality of love not to be able to remain stationary, to be obliged to increase under pain of diminishing.
Andre GideRead
It is with noble sentiments that bad literature gets written.
Andre GideRead
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