A short story is the ultimate close-up magic trick -- a couple of thousand words to take you around the universe or break your heart.
Neil GaimanRead
I went away in my head, into a book. That was where I went whenever real life was too hard or too inflexible.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Books provide an escape from the difficulties of real life.
In this quote, Neil Gaiman expresses how literature serves as a refuge for his mind when reality becomes challenging or overwhelming. He emphasizes the importance of reading as a means to cope with life's struggles, suggesting that books offer comfort and a way to explore different worlds and perspectives.
Themes
BooksEscapeImaginationLiteratureCoping
In practice
Example use cases
During a book club discussion about coping mechanisms, one could use this quote to underline the importance of literature.
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As a teenager I wrote to R.A. Lafferty. And he responded, too, with letters that were like R.A. Lafferty short stories, filled with elliptical answers to straight questions and simple answers to complicated ones.
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The important thing to understand about American history, wrote Mr. Ibis, in his leather-bound journal, is that it is fictional, a charcoal-sketched simplicity for the children, or the easily bored.
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Nothing’s changed. You’ll go home. You’ll be bored. You’ll be ignored. No one will listen to you, really listen to you. You’re too clever and too quiet for them to understand. They don’t even get your name right.
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I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.
Neil GaimanRead
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