There's life for you. Spend the best years of your life studying penmanship and rhetoric and syntax and Beowulf and George Eliot, and then somebody steals your pencil.
Dorothy ParkerRead
I'm of the glamorous ladies At whose beckoning history shook. But you are a man, and see only my pan, So I stay at home with a book.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the disparity between societal expectations and personal aspirations.
In this quote, Dorothy Parker uses a witty contrast to highlight the tension between the allure of glamour and the more mundane pursuits of life. The speaker acknowledges being among celebrated women in history yet feels overlooked by a man's superficial interest, ultimately choosing the comfort and solitude of reading over societal expectations. This illustrates the theme of individual choice versus societal pressure.
Themes
GlamourHistoryBooksPersonal ChoiceSociety
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote during a discussion on the role of women in history and literature.
More from Dorothy Parker
All quotes βMy land is bare of chattering folk; / the clouds are low along the ridges, / and sweet's the air with curly smoke / from all my burning bridges.
Dorothy ParkerRead
Prince or commoner, tenor or bass, Painter or plumber or never-do-well, Do me a favor and shut your face - Poets alone should kiss and tell.
Dorothy ParkerRead
They say of me, and so they should, It's doubtful if I come to good. I see acquaintances and friends Accumulating dividends And making enviable names In science, art and parlor games. But I, despite expert advice, Keep doing things I think are nice, And though to good I never come Inseparable my nose and thumb.
Dorothy ParkerRead
It is that word 'hunny,' my darlings, that marks the first place in The House at Pooh Corner at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.
Dorothy ParkerRead
I canβt write five words but that I change seven.
Dorothy ParkerRead
Similar quotes
Freedom of the press is perhaps the freedom that has suffered the most from the gradual degradation of the idea of liberty.
Albert CamusRead
I act because I can't seem to live with myself if I do not. I don't know any other way to be. It isn't something you can explain; it is just something that you do; it is something that you are.
Martin SheenRead
I think I exist,' he said wearily. 'I am conscious of my own identity. I was born, and I shall die. I have arms and legs. I occupy a particular point in space. No other solid object can occupy the same point simultaneously.
George OrwellRead
We believe in resolving all disputes peacefully.
Atal Bihari VajpayeeRead
Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.
Alan WattsRead
This contradiction lies here: they wish God, and they wish humanity. They persist in connecting two terms which, once separated, can come together again only to destroy each other.
Mikhail BakuninRead