Know what we did, Lucy? You and me? We spent our whole lives yearning. Isn't that the God damndest thing?
Richard YatesRead
It's a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques societal complacency and the apathy towards meaningful aspirations.
Richard Yates expresses a deep concern for a society that has succumbed to complacency, where individuals prioritize comfort over ambition and passion. This 'disease' depicts a world where excitement and genuine belief in greater ideals have been replaced by a consensus of mediocrity, ultimately highlighting the dangers of settling for a life devoid of challenge and purpose.
Themes
ApathyComplacencyMediocritySocietyAspirationPassion
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about striving for excellence, one might reference this quote to challenge the audience to rise above mediocrity.
More from Richard Yates
All quotes →She was calm and quiet now with knowing what she had always known, what neither her parents nor Aunt Claire nor Frank nor anyone else had ever had to teach her: that if you wanted something to do something absolutely honest, something true, it always turned out to be a thing that had to be done alone.
Richard YatesRead
He found it so easy and so pleasant to cry that he didn’t try to stop for a while, until he realized he was forcing his sobs a little, exaggerating their depth with unnecessary shudders. … The whole point of crying is to quit before you coined it up. The whole point of grief itself was to cut it out while it was still honest, while it still meant something. Because the thing was so easily corrupted
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Do you know what the definition of insane is? Yes. It’s the inability to relate to another human being. It’s the inability to love.
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She just happened to feel like it. Wasn’t that after all, the only reason there was? Had she ever had a less selfish, more complicated reason for doing anything in her life?
Richard YatesRead
He knew it was possible for shame to be nursed and doctored like an illness, if you wanted to keep it separate from the rest of your life, but that didn't mean there'd be any way to keep from knowing it was there.
Richard YatesRead
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