He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required
Marilynne RobinsonRead
The idea that myth is the opposite of knowledge, or the opposite of truth, is simply to disallow it. It is like saying poetry is the opposite of truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Myth and poetry convey truths in ways that knowledge and facts cannot, and dismissing them limits our understanding.
Marilynne Robinson's quote emphasizes the idea that myths and poetry serve as expressive mediums that communicate truths about the human experience, which shouldn't be dismissed as mere fiction or falsehood. To consider myth as the opposite of knowledge undermines its value, as both realms can coexist and enrich our understanding of life, emotion, and reality in profound ways.
Themes
MythTruthPoetryKnowledgeUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a lecture about the value of literature in understanding human experience.
More from Marilynne Robinson
All quotes βIt seems to me there is less meanness in atheism, by a good measure. It seems that the spirit of religious self-righteousness this article deplores is precisely the spirit in which it is written. Of course he's right about many things, one of them being the destructive potency of religious self-righteousness. (p. 146)
Marilynne RobinsonRead
A narrow pond would form in the orchard, water clear as air covering grass and black leaves and fallen branches, all around it black leaves and drenched grass and fallen branches, and on it, slight as an image in an eye, sky, clouds, trees, our hovering faces and our cold hands.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening light, just as a candle flame looks beautiful in the light of morning. Light within light...It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human soul, the singular light within that great general light of existence.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
There are worries that seem to me sustained by the love of worry. For example, that people are reading from screens, or listening to recorded books. Why scold the impulse to enjoy language and narrative in whatever form it takes?
Marilynne RobinsonRead
Teaching is a distraction and a burden, but it's also an incredible stimulus. And a reprieve, in a way. When you're trying to work on something and it's not going anywhere, you can go to school and there's a two-and-a-half-hour block of time in which you can accomplish something.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
Similar quotes
If the highest things are unknowable, then the highest capacity or virtue of man cannot be theoretical wisdom.
Leo StraussRead
Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass; I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come forever and ever.
Walt WhitmanRead
I gambled on having the strength to live two lives, one for myself and one for the world.
Ruth BenedictRead
The true identity theft is not financial. It's not in cyberspace. It's spiritual. It's been taken.
Stephen CoveyRead
The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity or rather the cowardice of the faithful.
Pope Pius XRead
While it is useful to rebut charges and get your arguments out in circulation, you have to understand that arguments and evidence have little impact on people as long as their feelings tilt them against you.
Jonathan HaidtRead