I’m ALIVE. Thinking about it, noticing it, is new. You do things and don’t watch. Then all of a sudden you look and see what you’re doing and it’s the first time, really.
Interpretation
Being aware of your own existence and actions can bring a new perspective to life.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and self-awareness. He suggests that often we go through the motions of life without truly observing or reflecting on our actions. When we finally take a moment to notice what we are doing, it can feel like a fresh experience, highlighting the beauty and significance of simply being alive.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing life, one could use this quote to encourage self-reflection.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
Let us beware of common folk, of common sense, of sentiment, of inspiration, and of the obvious.
I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
The greatest remedy that is used against a plan of the enemy is to do voluntarily what he plans that you do by force.
Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.
A ray of imagination or of wisdom may enlighten the universe, and glow into remotest centuries.
Everybody hates a prodigy, detests an old head on young shoulders.
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