Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. They're truthful in a different way
Interpretation
Good books reveal deeper truths about reality, regardless of their fictional nature.
This quote by Stanislaw Lem emphasizes the idea that literature, especially fiction, can convey profound truths about the human experience and the world, even if the stories themselves are imaginary. Through the exploration of fantastical themes and narratives, authors are able to reflect genuine insights about our existence, emotions, and societal issues, prompting readers to think critically and introspectively about their lives and the universe around them.
In practice
A book club discussion on how fictional stories reveal real life truths.
The only writers who have any peace are the ones who don't write. And there are some like that. They wallow in a sea of possibilities. To express a thought, you first have to limit it, and that means kill it. Every word I speak robs me of a thousand others, and every line I write means giving up another.
We didn't know each other well. I never had the time. Now I see that it doesn't make any difference. The ones who hurry and the ones who take their time all end up in the same place. Just don't have any regrets. No regrets.
Cripple God, who always desires more than he's able to have, and doesn't always realize this to begin with. Who has built clocks, but not the time that they measure. Has built systems or mechanisms that serve particular purposes, but they too have outgrown these purposes and betrayed them. And has created an infinity that, from being the measure of the power he was supposed to have, turned into the measure of his boundless failure.
We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors. We don't know what to do with other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but we can't accept it for what it is.
No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets.
A writer should not run around with a mirror for his countrymen; he should tell his society and his times things no one ever thought before.
I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.
He appeared before me and departed. We were not able to speak to or touch each other. But in that short interval, he transformed many things inside me. He literally stirred my mind and body the way a spoon stirs a cup of cocoa, down to the depths of my internal organs and my womb.
Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.
We need myths that will identify the individual not with his local group but with the planet.
Still desiring, we live without hope.
Nirvana means to extinguish the burning fires of the Three Poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance. This can be accomplished by letting go of dissatisfaction.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.