...the face has limited space. My mother used to say, if you fill your face with laughing, there will be no more room for crying.
Rohinton MistryRead
Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories...they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, loss and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Only the details are different.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that while individuals may undervalue their personal experiences, in essence, everyone shares similar narratives of life’s struggles and desires.
Rohinton Mistry's quote reflects on the universal nature of human experiences. It emphasizes that despite our unique circumstances and individual stories, the fundamental themes of youth, loss, and a quest for redemption connect us all. Mistry highlights how, at the core, we all seek meaning and understanding through our shared struggles, ultimately living out similar narratives with distinct details. This idea urges us to recognize the collective human experience and the commonality of our stories across cultures and backgrounds.
Themes
LifeStoriesRedemptionLossYouth
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about resilience, one could quote this to illustrate the common human experience.
More from Rohinton Mistry
All quotes →But nobody ever forgot anything, not really, though sometimes they pretended, when it suited them. Memories were permanent. Sorrowful ones remained sad even with the passing of time, yet happy ones could never be recreated - not with the same joy. Remembering bred its own peculiar sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain.
Rohinton MistryRead
What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the end. Carrying your death with you every day would make it hard to waste time on unkindness and anger and bitterness, on anything petty. That was the secret: remembering your dying time, in order to keep the stupid and the ugly out of your living time.
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If there was an abundance of misery in the world, there was also sufficient joy, yes - as long as one knew where to look for it.
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There was no such thing as perfect privacy, life was a perpetual concert-hall recital with a captive audience.
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Money can buy the necessary police order. Justice is sold to the highest bidder
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