Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
Stephen KingRead
I don't want to speak too disparagingly of my generation (actually I do, we had a chance to change the world but opted for the Home Shopping Network Instead).
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes his generation for missing opportunities to make meaningful changes in favor of trivial distractions.
Stephen King's quote reflects on the missed potential of his generation, expressing disappointment that they chose to engage in frivolous activities rather than seizing opportunities to create a significant impact on the world. It highlights a contrast between aspiration and reality, suggesting that the allure of entertainment and consumerism often overshadows the pursuit of meaningful change.
Themes
GenerationChangeDistractionWorldPotential
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about societal priorities in a university seminar.
More from Stephen King
All quotes →Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Stephen KingRead
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Stephen KingRead
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
Stephen KingRead
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
Stephen KingRead
Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
Stephen KingRead
Similar quotes
There can be no progress without head-on confrontation.
Christopher HitchensRead
The goal in the end is not to win elections. The goal is to change society.
Paul KrugmanRead
If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal.
Paulo CoelhoRead
There’s this thing called progress. But it doesn’t progress. It doesn’t go anywhere. Because as progress progresses the world can slip away. It’s progress if you can stop the world slipping away. My humble model for progress I the reclamation of land. Which is repeatedly, never-ending retrieving what it lost. A dogged and vigilant business. A dull yet valuable business. A hard, inglorious business. But you shouldn’t go mistaking the reclamation of land for the building of empires.
Graham SwiftRead
Gays and lesbians began to gain civil rights when Americans realized that their brothers, cousins, daughters were gay.
Nicholas KristofRead
For some days, people thought that India was shaking. But there are always tremors when a great tree falls.
Rajiv GandhiRead