That is all the National Parks are about. Use, but do no harm.
Wallace StegnerRead
Is that the basis of friendship? Is it as reactive as that? Do we respond only to people who seem to find us interesting?... Do we all buzz or ring or light up when people press our vanity buttons, and only then? Can I think of anyone in my whole life whom I have liked without his first showing signs of liking me?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote questions the nature of friendship and whether it is primarily based on mutual interest and validation.
Wallace Stegner's quote examines the foundations of friendship, suggesting that it may be reactive and conditional rather than unconditional. He reflects on how individuals often feel drawn to those who express interest in them, raising the question of whether genuine friendship can exist without initial signs of mutual affection or admiration.
Themes
FriendshipValidationInterestConnectionsLiking
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of relationships, this quote could be used to highlight how friendships often depend on mutual validation.
More from Wallace Stegner
All quotes →Touch. It is touch that is the deadliest enemy of chastity, loyalty, monogamy, gentility with its codes and conventions and restraints. By touch we are betrayed and betray others ... an accidental brushing of shoulders or touching of hands ... hands laid on shoulders in a gesture of comfort that lies like a thief, that takes, not gives, that wants, not offers, that awakes, not pacifies. When one flesh is waiting, there is electricity in the merest contact.
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Hope was always out ahead of fact, possibility obscured the outlines of reality.
Wallace StegnerRead
Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers.
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I was shaped by the west and have lived most of my life in it, and nothing would gratify me more than to see it in all its subregions and subcultures both prosperous and environmentally healthy, with a civilization to match its scenery.
Wallace StegnerRead
Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of life amount not to wisdom, but to scar tissue and callus.
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