When you're writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.
Tom WaitsRead
Everything is explained now. We live in an age when you say casually to somebody 'What's the story on that?' and they can run to the computer and tell you within five seconds. That's fine, but sometimes I’d just as soon continue wondering. We have a deficit of wonder right now.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on society's reliance on technology for information, highlighting a loss of curiosity and wonder.
Tom Waits expresses concern over the modern tendency to seek immediate answers through technology, suggesting that this convenience comes at the cost of curiosity and the joy of exploration. He points out that while it's easy to access information quickly, there is value in wondering and pondering the unknown, indicating that this deficit of wonder might detract from the richness of human experience.
Themes
WonderCuriosityTechnologyInformationExploration
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on education, one might use this quote to discuss the importance of nurturing curiosity in students.
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Don't plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me - choke those little bad days. Choke 'em down to nothing.
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My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
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Now its raining its pouring the old man is snoring now I lay me down to sleep I hear the sirens in the street all my dreams are made of chrome I have no way to get back home I’d rather die before I wake like Marilyn Monroe and throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make ‘em grow
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