I find more and more that I am a man of the 1920s. I still expect something exciting. Drinks, animated conversation, gaiety: the uninhibited exchange of ideas.
Edmund WilsonRead
If I could only remember that the days were not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace, but only food for the fires of the heart.
Interpretation
Life is not about accumulating days like bricks for a solid structure, but rather about experiencing each moment passionately.
Edmund Wilson's quote reflects on the transient nature of life, suggesting that days should not be treated merely as time blocks stacked together, but as meaningful experiences that fuel our emotions and passions. He contrasts the idea of building a secure, orderly existence with the notion of living fully and embrace the ephemeral beauty of each moment.
In practice
In a speech about appreciating life's fleeting moments, use this quote to emphasize the importance of living passionately.
We think the way we do partly because Socrates thought the way he did. His basic idea - that the unexamined life is not worth living - is what it means to live in the modern world, to develop ideas and ask questions.
This process is alchemy: its founder is the smith Vulcan.
I believe that the human motive to share is very powerful. The human motive to profit is also very powerful, and I think that the profit motive and the sharing motive are not exclusive.
I would rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evils.
One of the problems of modern society, or the post-Internet age, is that there are so many things bombarding us that we could care about. I think it's more important than ever to really get clear and focus on what's worth caring about and what's just noise or distraction.
The suicide bomber's imagination leads him to believe in a brilliant act of heroism, when in fact he is simply blowing himself up pointlessly and taking other people's lives.
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