Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty; but learn to be happy alone.
Saul BellowRead
There is an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are and what this life is for.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a deep desire for a more profound understanding of the human experience and the purpose of life.
Saul Bellow's quote reflects a universal yearning for a richer and more nuanced understanding of our existence as human beings. It conveys the idea that many people seek clarity and coherence in their lives, desiring answers to fundamental questions about identity and purpose, which often feel elusive or insufficiently addressed by conventional narratives.
Themes
Human ExistencePurposeUnderstandingLifeIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a philosophical discussion on the meaning of life.
More from Saul Bellow
All quotes →When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
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In here, the human bosom -- mine, yours, everybody's -- there isn't just one soul. There's a lot of souls. But there are two main ones, the real soul and a pretender soul. Now! Every man realizes that he has to love something or somebody. He feels that he must go outward. 'If thou canst not love, what art thou?' Are you with me?
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I've discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'
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I see that I've become a really bad correspondent. It's not that I don't think of you. You come into my thoughts often. But when you do it appears to me that I owe you a particularly grand letter. And so you end in the "warehouse of good intentions": "Can't do it now." "Then put it on hold." This is one's strategy for coping with old age, and with death--because one can't die with so many obligations in storage. Our clever species, so fertile and resourceful in denying its weaknesses.
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A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
Saul BellowRead
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