Know what we did, Lucy? You and me? We spent our whole lives yearning. Isn't that the God damndest thing?
Richard YatesRead
Why did everything always change when all you wanted, all you had ever humbly asked of whatever God there might be, was that certain things be allowed to stay the same?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a longing for stability in the face of inevitable change.
Richard Yates highlights the human desire for consistency and stability in life, contrasting it with the relentless nature of change. The speaker's plea to a higher power reflects a deep yearning for certain aspects of life to remain constant, suggesting that the unpredictability of existence can often be unsettling and difficult to accept.
Themes
ChangeStabilityLifeLongingDesire
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about navigating life's uncertainties, one could use this quote to emphasize the challenge of coping with change.
More from Richard Yates
All quotes →She was calm and quiet now with knowing what she had always known, what neither her parents nor Aunt Claire nor Frank nor anyone else had ever had to teach her: that if you wanted something to do something absolutely honest, something true, it always turned out to be a thing that had to be done alone.
Richard YatesRead
He found it so easy and so pleasant to cry that he didn’t try to stop for a while, until he realized he was forcing his sobs a little, exaggerating their depth with unnecessary shudders. … The whole point of crying is to quit before you coined it up. The whole point of grief itself was to cut it out while it was still honest, while it still meant something. Because the thing was so easily corrupted
Richard YatesRead
Do you know what the definition of insane is? Yes. It’s the inability to relate to another human being. It’s the inability to love.
Richard YatesRead
It's a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.
Richard YatesRead
She just happened to feel like it. Wasn’t that after all, the only reason there was? Had she ever had a less selfish, more complicated reason for doing anything in her life?
Richard YatesRead
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