Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.
Every death is like the burning of a library.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote conveys the idea that every life lost represents a vast amount of knowledge and experiences that are forever lost.
Alex Haley's quote, 'Every death is like the burning of a library,' underscores the profound loss associated with death, particularly in relation to the wisdom, stories, and knowledge that each individual possesses. When a person dies, their unique experiences and insights, akin to the countless books in a library, are extinguished. This highlights the importance of valuing human experiences and sharing stories to preserve the richness of our collective knowledge and heritage.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, one might say, 'Every death is like the burning of a library, as we lose so many stories and experiences.'
More from Alex Haley
All quotes βTying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.
That's what happens with writing. Ingredients bubble and cook. Material becomes substance.
I think one of the most fascinating things you can do after you learn about your own people is to study something about the history and culture of other people.
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you.
Similar quotes
Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
You know, when I sit in meetings and things are very tense and people take things extremely seriously and they invest a lot of their ego, I sometimes think to myself, 'Come on, you know, there's life and there's death and there is love.' And all of that ego business is nonsense compared to that.
The manner in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de Tultie wrote, is the most usual, the most suggestive, the most remembered, and the oftener quoted; because it is entirely composed of thoughts born from the common talk of life.
Beware of those who would use violence, too often it is violence they want and neither truth nor freedom.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly. There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.