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 challenge of modern freedom, or the combination of isolation and freedom which confronts you, is to make yourself up. The danger is that you may emerge from the process as a not-entirely-human creature. (Referenced in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young)
Interpretation
What this quote means
Modern freedom can lead to isolation, and it's essential to shape oneself carefully to avoid losing humanity.
Saul Bellow's quote reflects on the intricate nature of modern freedom, emphasizing the dual challenge of being both free and isolated. It warns that in the quest for self-definition and independence, one may become detached from humanity, suggesting that the process of self-creation must be undertaken with caution to preserve our essential human qualities.
Themes
FreedomIsolationSelf-CreationHumanityChallenge
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal development, one might say, 'As Saul Bellow once noted, the challenge of modern freedom is to make yourself up while remaining connected to your humanity.'
More from Saul Bellow
All quotes →When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
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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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