The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DelilloRead
I don’t want your candor. I want your soul in a silver thimble.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire for deep emotional connection over superficial honesty.
In this quote, Don DeLillo emphasizes the importance of intimacy and the need for genuine emotional engagement rather than mere straightforwardness. The metaphor of wanting someone’s 'soul in a silver thimble' suggests a longing for a treasured, delicate part of a person, reflecting a desire for something precious and rare in relationships, rather than the bare truth of their thoughts or feelings.
In practice
This quote could be shared at a wedding to highlight the importance of emotional depth in marriage.
The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
[I]n the American soul there is a lonely individual standing in a vast landscape. He is either on a horse or driving a car, depending, and either way he’s carrying a gun. This is one of the essential images in American mythology.
Nothing could be taken for granted. Women who loved you tried to cut your throat, while women who didn't even know your name scrubbed your back. Witches could sound like Katharine Hepburn and your best friend could try to strangle you. Smack in the middle of an orchid there might be a blob of jello and inside a Mickey Mouse doll, a fixed and radiant star.
Passion is the quickest to develop, and the quickest to fade. Intimacy develops more slowly, and commitment more gradually still.
When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It's very satisfying.
I have to express sympathy from the bottom of my heart to those people who were taken as wartime comfort women. As a human being, I would like to express my sympathies, and also as prime minister of Japan I need to apologize to them.
Don't quarrel with your parents even if you are on the right.
I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave - and nothing but laughter to console them with.
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