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.
One would like to say in the aftermath of the 2008 election that everyone lived happily ever after. But the American drama, especially when it involves race, is always more complicated than that.
But why should you be interested in me?" Good question. I canβt explain it myself right this moment. But maybe β just maybe β if we start getting together and talking, after a while something like Francis Laiβs soundtrack music will start playing in the background, and a whole slew of concrete reasons why Iβm interested in you will line up out of nowhere. With luck, it might even snow for us.
Very early in life, it seemed to me that there was a relationship between the problems of the Negro people in America and the Jewish people in Russia, and that the Jewish people's problems were worse than ours.
It was strange to see someone you have only known alone begin interacting with other people, for that somebody known to you disappears and is replaced by a different, more complex, person. You watch him revolve in this new company, revealing new facets, and there is nothing you can do but hope you like these other sides as much as you like the side that seemed whole when it faced only you.
The type of human being we prefer reveals the contours of our heart.
That is life for a Saudi woman: wherever we go, whatever we achieve, we are the property of a man.
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