A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that social success often requires humility and strategy, regardless of one's appearance.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote reflects the idea that success in social situations is not solely dependent on physical attractiveness but rather on one's ability to navigate social dynamics with care and thoughtfulness. The metaphor of a 'pretty girl playing her cards carefully' implies that even those who may seem to have an advantage should not rely solely on their looks; instead, they must be strategic and wise in their interactions, much like someone deemed less attractive might need to be to gain social acceptance.
In practice
This quote could be used at a social skills workshop to emphasize the importance of strategy in social interactions.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
I knew that no matter what door you knock on in a Cretan village, it will be opened for you. A meal will be served in your honor, and you will sleep between the best sheets in the house. In Crete, the stranger is still the unknown god. Before him, all doors and all hearts are opened.
Every man rejoices twice when he has a partner in his joy. He who shares tears with us wipes them away. He divides them in two, and he who laughs with us makes the joy double.
I have been in love with the Palestinian people for many years. I have two great-grandsons that are rapidly learning about the people here and the anguish and suffering and deprivation of human rights that you have experienced ever since 1948.
I've had your tears with mine, and you've had mine with yours. I think that's more intimate even than a kiss.
I never ask my wife about my flaws. Instead I try to get her to ignore them and concentrate on my sense of humor.
Society does not need more children; but it does need more loved children. Quite literally, we cannot afford unloved children - but we pay heavily for them every day. There should not be the slightest communal concern when a woman elects to destroy the life of her thousandth-of-an-ounce embryo. But all society should rise up in alarm when it hears that a baby that is not wanted is about to be born.
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