Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a sense of the past.
Susan SontagRead
The fear of becoming old is born of the recognition that one is not living now the life that one wishes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Fear of aging often reflects dissatisfaction with current life choices.
Susan Sontag's quote highlights that the anxiety associated with growing old stems from an awareness that one's present life does not align with personal desires or aspirations. It suggests that instead of focusing on aging, individuals should engage more fully with their lives and pursue their true passions and goals to mitigate such fears.
Themes
FearAgingLifeDesiresPresentLiving
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational talk about living in the moment, I might say this quote to encourage people to embrace their current lives.
More from Susan Sontag
All quotes βScience fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.
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Gide and I have attained such perfect intellectual communion that I experience the appropriate labor pains for every thought he gives birth to!
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Volume depends precisely on the writer's having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone.
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In NY sensuality completely turns into sexuality - no objects for the senses to respond to, no beautiful river, houses, people. Awful smells of the street, and dirt... Nothing except eating, if that, and the frenzy of the bed.
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It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.
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You have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is the grave.
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As I apologized to her a flicker of panic raced through me and then faded away. There wasn't enough life left in me to panic. I'd made a mistake and I was dying. Apparently not even a Speck afterlife was available to me. I'd simply stop being. Apparently I hadn't died correctly. Oops.
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Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.
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I had a period in my life where I decided that I would never be bored again and that, if I had any free time at all, I would make plans, and I would always be doing things. It actually was great for a year or so, but then I lost all of my friends.
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