Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone.
Saul BellowRead
The body, she says, is subject to the force of gravity. But the soul is ruled by levity, pure.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote contrasts the physical constraints of the body with the freedom of the soul.
Saul Bellow's quote speaks to the difference between the physical limitations imposed upon our bodies by the natural laws of gravity, emphasizing how they ground us in reality. In contrast, it suggests that our souls possess a sense of lightness and freedom, allowing them to transcend physical challenges and explore higher states of consciousness and joy.
Themes
GravitySoulLevityFreedomBody
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the balance between physical and spiritual well-being.
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In here, the human bosom -- mine, yours, everybody's -- there isn't just one soul. There's a lot of souls. But there are two main ones, the real soul and a pretender soul. Now! Every man realizes that he has to love something or somebody. He feels that he must go outward. 'If thou canst not love, what art thou?' Are you with me?
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I've discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'
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I see that I've become a really bad correspondent. It's not that I don't think of you. You come into my thoughts often. But when you do it appears to me that I owe you a particularly grand letter. And so you end in the "warehouse of good intentions": "Can't do it now." "Then put it on hold." This is one's strategy for coping with old age, and with death--because one can't die with so many obligations in storage. Our clever species, so fertile and resourceful in denying its weaknesses.
Saul BellowRead
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
Saul BellowRead
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