The idea of some people being less than people is poison to any society and needs to be named as such in order to halt its spread before it turns the soul of a society septic.
Richard FlanaganRead
Is it easier for a man to live his life again as a fish, than to accept the wonder of being human? So alone, so frightened, so wanting for what we are afraid to give tongue to.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the complexity and fear of human existence compared to a simpler life as a fish.
Richard Flanagan's quote contrasts the simplicity of living as a fish with the profound challenges of human life. It suggests that humans often fear the emotional depth and vulnerability that come with being fully alive, leading them to long for a more uncomplicated existence. The quote invites reflection on the beauty and struggles of human experience, emphasizing how accepting our humanity can bring both wonder and trepidation.
Themes
LifeHumanityAcceptanceWonderFear
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about embracing our fears and challenges.
More from Richard Flanagan
All quotes βI never know what I am writing. The moment you know what you're writing, you're writing nothing worth reading.
Richard FlanaganRead
My father was a Japanese prisoner of war, a survivor of the Thai-Burma Death Railway, built by a quarter of a million slave labourers in 1943. Between 100,000 and 200,000 died.
Richard FlanaganRead
If 30 Australians drowned in Sydney Harbour, it would be a national tragedy. But when 30 or more refugees drown off the Australian coast, it is a political question.
Richard FlanaganRead
I do not share the pessimism of the age about the novel. They are one of our greatest spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual inventions. As a species it is story that distinguishes us, and one of the supreme expressions of story is the novel. Novels are not content. Nor are they are a mirror to life or an explanation of life or a guide to life. Novels are life, or they are nothing.
Richard FlanaganRead
After writing a novel, what is there to say? If a novelist could say it in a maxim, they wouldn't need 120,000 words, several years and sundry characters, plots and subplots, and so on. I'd much rather listen always.
Richard FlanaganRead
Similar quotes
What was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights.
Hillary ClintonRead
From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:_x000D_ _x000D_ WAR IS PEACE_x000D_ _x000D_ FREEDOM IS SLAVERY_x000D_ _x000D_ IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
George OrwellRead
My mother always used to say, 'Well, if you had been born a little girl growing up in Egypt, you would go to church or go to worship Allah, but surely if those people are worshipping a God, it must be the same God' - that's what she always said. The same God with different names.
Jane GoodallRead
In summary, Intelligence Intensification is desirable, because there is not a single problem confronting humanity that is not either caused or considerably worsened by the prevailing stupidity (insensitivity) of the species: badly wired robots bumping into and maiming and killing each other.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
Our waking life's desire to shape the world to our convenience invites all manner of paradox and difficulty.
Cormac MccarthyRead
Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all of the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Frederick DouglassRead