Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our shelves (and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves.
Interpretation
Books shape our experiences and memories, becoming integral parts of our life narratives.
This quote by Anne Fadiman emphasizes the profound influence of books on our lives, suggesting that they serve as more than mere entertainment or information; they contribute to the very fabric of our stories and identities. As they accumulate in our living spaces, books transform into chapters of our personal narratives, reflecting our experiences, thoughts, and growth over time.
In practice
During a graduation speech to emphasize the importance of literature in shaping one’s future.
Muses are fickle, and many a writer, peering into the voice, has escaped paralysis by ascribing the creative responsibility to a talisman: a lucky charm, a brand of paper, but most often a writing instrument. Am I writing well? Thank my pen. Am I writing badly? Don't blame me blame my pen. By such displacements does the fearful imagination defend itself.
...the reader who plucks a book from her shelf only once is as deprived as the listener who, after attending a single performance of a Beethoven symphony, never hears it again.
One of the convenient things about literature is that, despite copyrights [...] a book belongs to the reader as well as to the writer.
If you truly love a book, you should sleep with it, write in it, read aloud from it, and fill its pages with muffin crumbs.
My brother and I were able to fantasize far more extravagantly about our parents' tastes and desires, their aspirations and their vices, by scanning their bookcases than by snooping in their closest. Their selves were on their shelves.
We inculcate young people with the message that if they don't succeed, it is merely of their own doing. They should have worked harder, we say. They should have made better decisions. This message is especially present in communities of color.
Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one.
In America we have big issues with education - in impoverished communities especially. I work with Teach For All, and so we're encouraging more people to get into teaching.
We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet.
You must write for children the same way you write for adults, only better.
If I can write a book that will help the world make a little more sense to a teen, then that's why I was put on the planet.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.