Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.
Each day has a story to - deserves to be told, because we are made of stories. I mean, scientists say that human beings are made of atoms, but a little bird told me that we are also made of stories.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Every day brings unique experiences that are valuable and deserving of sharing, underscoring our identity as beings shaped by narratives.
In this quote, Eduardo Galeano emphasizes the importance of the stories that each day brings to our lives. He suggests that while our physical composition may be scientific—made of atoms—our essence is deeply connected to the stories we share and create with others. This perspective highlights the significance of storytelling as a fundamental part of human existence, illustrating that our experiences and the narratives we construct around them shape our understanding of ourselves and our world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth, one could state, 'Each day has a story to tell; embrace your experiences as part of your journey.'
More from Eduardo Galeano
All quotes →It is highly improbable that the bureaucrat will put his life on the line. It is absolutely impossible that he'll put his job on the line.
We live in a world that treats the dead better than the living. We, the living are askers of questions and givers of answers, and we have other grave defects unpardonable by a system that believes death, like money, improves people.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
The more freedom is extended to business, the more prisons have to be built for those who suffer from that business.
Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.
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I see nothing but Becoming. Be not deceived! It is the fault of your limited outlook and not the fault of the essence of things if you believe that you see firm land anywhere in the ocean of Becoming and Passing. You need names for things, just as if they had a rigid permanence, but the very river in which you bathe a second time is no longer the same one which you entered before
The Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.
If there is some corner of the world which has remained peaceful, but with a peace based on injustices the peace of a swamp with rotten matter fermenting in its depths - we may be sure that that peace is false. Violence attracts violence. Let us repeat fearlessly and ceaselessly: injustices bring revolt, either from the oppressed or from the young, determined to fight for a more just and more human world.
Neutrality is a negative word. It does not express what America ought to feel. We are not trying to keep out of trouble; we are trying to preserve the foundations on which peace may be rebuilt.
Pain forces even the innocent to lie.