Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.
Interpretation
The quote asserts that independent thought is essential; otherwise, one will be molded by others.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote emphasizes the importance of independent thinking in one's life. It suggests that if individuals do not engage in critical thought, they risk relinquishing their ability to shape their own preferences and opinions. Instead, they may become subject to external influences that can distort their authentic selves and constrain their natural inclinations. This serves as a cautionary reminder of the power dynamics involved in thought and expression.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth and self-awareness.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
The provisions we have made [for our government] are such as please ourselves; they answer the substantial purposes of government and of justice, and other purposes than these should not be answered.
I write against the religion because if women want to live like human beings, they will have to live outside the religion and Islamic law.
Our identities really are a constant negotiation between the story we tell about ourselves and the narrative our societies like to recite.
What you hope, you will eventually believe. _x000D_ What you believe you will eventually know. What you know, you will eventually create. What you create, _x000D_ you will eventually experience. What you experience, _x000D_ you will eventually express. What you express, _x000D_ you will eventually become. _x000D_ This is the formula for all of life.
We ought to recognize that religious strife is not the consequence of differences among people. It's about conflicts between creation stories.
It is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals, ina government ship, with five hundred men and boys to assist one, than it is to explore the private sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean of one's being alone.
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