Jump off. You are a protected individual. Do not fear.
Henry MillerRead
But it's just because the chances are all against you, just because there is so little hope, that life is sweet over here.
Interpretation
Life's sweetness often emerges in difficult times when hope seems scarce.
Henry Miller's quote suggests that the joys and sweetness of life become more pronounced precisely because of the challenges and slim chances we face. In times of struggle, the small glimmers of hope and happiness become incredibly significant, reminding us of the resilience and beauty found in life despite its hardships.
In practice
Using this quote in a speech about overcoming adversity.
Jump off. You are a protected individual. Do not fear.
I saw through to the last sign and symbol, but I could not read her face. I could see only the eyes shining through, huge, fleshy-like luminous beasts, as though I were swimming behind them in the electric effluvia of her incandescent vision.
The essential thing is to WANT to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.
Great God! What have I turned into? What right have you people to clutter up my life, steal my time, probe my soul, suckle my thoughts, have me for your companion, confidant, and information bureau? What do you take me for? Am I an entertainer on salary, required every evening to play an intellectual farce under your stupid noses? Am I a slave, bought and paid for, to crawl on my belly in front of you idlers and lay at your feet all that I do and all that I know?
We are swimming on the face of time and all else has drowned, is drowning, or will drown.
To sing you must first open your mouth. You must have a pair of lungs, and a little knowledge of music. It is not necessary to have an accordion, or a guitar. The essential thing is to want to sing. This then is a song. I am singing.
It is true that I had wanted to die , but that is peculiarly different from regretting having been born. Overwhelmingly, I was enormously glad to have been born, grateful for life, and I couldnβt imagine not wanting to pass on life to someone else.
You get into your late fifties, people start falling like flies all around you. I don't take life for granted any more. I'm really glad to be here.
He trudged along unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought.
We plan, we toil, we suffer - in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol's eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs.
I will achieve in my life - Heaven grant that it be not long - some gigantic amalgamation between the two discrepancies so hideously apparent to me. Out of my suffering I will do it. I will knock. I will enter.
There's nothing illogical, it seems to me, about saying, 'I am going to care deeply about my work and my writing. I'm also going to care deeply about my family and my child.'
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