Never to get lost is not to live, not to know how to get lost brings you to destruction.
Rebecca SolnitRead
If gold has been prized because it is the most inert element, changeless and incorruptible, water is prized for the opposite reason -- its fluidity, mobility, changeability that make it a necessity and a metaphor for life itself. To value gold over water is to value economy over ecology, that which can be locked up over that which connects all things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of valuing change and connection in life rather than fixed wealth and materialism.
Rebecca Solnit's quote contrasts gold and water to illustrate profound philosophical points about value and existence. While gold represents stability and material wealth, water symbolizes fluidity, adaptability, and the interconnectedness of life. The quote critiques the tendency to prioritize material possessions over essential natural resources, suggesting that life thrives on change and interrelationships rather than on the static accumulation of wealth.
Themes
FluidityChangeValueLifeNatureConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about sustainability, I referenced this quote to illustrate the importance of valuing natural resources.
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The object we call a book is not the real book, but its potential, like a musical score or seed. It exists fully only in the act of being read; and its real home is inside the head of the reader, where the symphony resounds, the seed germinates. A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another.
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Cities have always offered anonymity, variety, and conjunction, qualities best basked in by walking: one does not have to go into the bakery or the fortune-teller's, only to know that one might. A city always contains more than any inhabitant can know, and a great city always makes the unknown and the possible spurs to the imagination.
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