QuoteProject
It's not very fashionable, but I love life, and I believe that things disappear and reappear and nothing ever solidifies, no matter how middle-class, housebroken, staid, and solitary someone's life seems to be. That, I think, is what I'm writing about.
Colum Mccann
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Life is ever-changing, and even seemingly stable lives have deeper complexities.

In this quote, Colum McCann reflects on the transient nature of life, suggesting that no matter how ordinary or stable someone's existence may appear, everything is in a constant state of flux. This perspective encourages a deeper understanding of life's complexities, emphasizing that even mundane experiences are filled with underlying dynamism and change. McCann's writing aims to explore these nuances, inviting readers to appreciate the beauty and complexity of life itself.

Themes

LifeChangeComplexityPhilosophyWriting

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about embracing life's unpredictability.

More from Colum Mccann

I mean, every novel's a historical novel anyway. But calling something a historical novel seems to put mittens on it, right? It puts manners on it. And you don't want your novels to be mannered.
Colum MccannRead
Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter -- it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.
Colum MccannRead
She takes another long haul, lets the smoke settle in her lungs-- she has heard somewhere that cigarettes are good for grief. One long drag and you forget how to cry. The body too busy dealing with the poison.
Colum MccannRead
It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful.
Colum MccannRead
It struck me that distant cities are designed precisely so you can know where you came from.
Colum MccannRead
And I suddenly think, as I look across the table at him, that these are the days as they will be. This is the future as we see it. The swerve and the static. The confidence and the doubt.
Colum MccannRead

Similar quotes

It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and associations that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears that the rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change his opinions in maturer years.
Solomon NorthupRead
Time is the father of truth, its mother is our mind.
Giordano BrunoRead
for we are inquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our inquiry would have been of no use
AristotleRead
I think there are a lot of rules for women. We have a lot of expectations and a lot of rules for women. So we're expected to march in a straight line, and when we don't, all hell breaks loose.
Roxane GayRead
When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed.
ZhuangziRead
It is also possible for the unconscious or an archetype to take complete possession of a man and to determine his fate down to the smallest detail
Carl JungRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.