Bottles of wine aren't like paintings. At some point you have to consume them. The object in life is to die with no bottles of wine in your cellar. To drink your last bottle of wine and go to sleep that night and not wake up.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of living fully and enjoying life, rather than hoarding experiences or possessions.
Jay McInerney's quote speaks to the idea that life should be lived to the fullest, using the metaphor of wine bottles to represent experiences and moments that should be savored. The statement suggests that, unlike art that can be appreciated indefinitely, experiences must be engaged with actively; one should strive to reach the end of life having fully enjoyed what it has to offer rather than holding back and leaving things unexperienced.
In practice
During a motivational speech about life choices.
Things happen, people change,' is what Amanda said. For her that covered it. You wanted an explanation, and ending that would assign blame and dish up justice. You considered violence and you considered reconciliation . But what you are left with is a premonition of the way your life will fade behind you, like a book you have read too quickly, leaving a dwindling trail of images and emotions, until all you can remember is a name.
The greatest gift that God in His bounty made in creation, and the most conformable to His goodness, and that which He prizes the most, was the freedom of will, with which the creatures with intelligence, they all and they alone, were and are endowed.
Every church that has a standard higher than human welfare is dangerous.
Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness & all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past & not enough presence.
American society is very like a fish society. . . . Among certain species of fish, the only thing which determines order of dominance is length of time in the fishbowl. The oldest resident picks on the newest resident, and if the newest resident is removed to a new bowl, he, as oldest resident, will pick on the newcomers.
Principles are the simplicity on the far side of complexity.
Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. There are seven words that will make a person love you. There are ten words that will break a strong man's will. But a word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the fire itself.
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