I identified in a very deep way with the individuals I was writing about because the theme that runs through this story is of extraordinary hardship and the will to overcome it.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the connection between hardship and the human spirit's resilience.
Laura Hillenbrand's quote reflects the profound empathy she feels for the subjects of her writing, highlighting how their extraordinary struggles resonate with her. It speaks to the universal theme of overcoming adversity, suggesting that the experience of hardship can ignite a deep connection and inspire both the author and the audience to appreciate the strength of the human spirit.
In practice
During a speech about overcoming challenges, this quote could illustrate the potential for resilience in every individual.
Every day after lunch when I was writing my first book, I'd nibble a square of fine chocolate and meditate on all that had gone into its creation: the sun and rain that spilled on the cocoa plant, the soil that nourished it, the hands that picked the beans, and so on. My taste of chocolate became a lesson on the interconnectedness of things, and the infinite blessings for which I am grateful.
Without dignity, identity is erased.
It's easy to talk to a horse if you understand his language. Horses stay the same from the day they are born until the day they die. They are only changed by the way people treat them.
Most people, when they hear the disease name, it's all they know about it. It sounds so mild. When I first was sick, for the first 10 years or so, I was dismissed. I was ridiculed and told I was lazy. It was a joke.
The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when their tormentors suffer.
For me, being a writer was never a choice. I was born one. All through my childhood I wrote short stories and stuffed them in drawers. I wrote on everything. I didn't do my homework so I could write
I want to shake people up so bad, that when they leave a nightclub where I've performed, I just want them to be to pieces.
To me, the American Dream is being able to follow your own personal calling. To be able to do what you want to do is incredible freedom.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
I still have no way to survive but to keep writing one line, one more line, one more line.
I'm very proud of the colour of my skin and that I'm inspiring people from all backgrounds, but I think it will be great for the next mixed-race or black female principal dancer if she doesn't have to be asked about that.
I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.