(M)aybe we too busy being flowers or fairies or strawberries instead of something honest and worthy of respect . . . you know . . . like being people.
Toni Cade BambaraRead
I've never been convinced that experience is linear, circular, or even random. It just is. I try to put it in some kind of order to extract meaning from it, to bring meaning to it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Experience doesn't have a set pattern; its significance is derived from how we interpret it.
In this quote, Toni Cade Bambara expresses skepticism about categorizing experiences into simple patterns, like linear or circular. Instead, she emphasizes the subjective nature of experience, suggesting that while we may attempt to organize our experiences to find meaning, the experiences themselves exist as they are, independent of our interpretations.
Themes
ExperienceMeaningInterpretationWisdomUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about personal growth and the value of our life experiences.
More from Toni Cade Bambara
All quotes →Take away the miseries and you take away some folks' reason for living.
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Write a lot and hit the streets. A writer who doesn't keep up with what's out there ain't gonna be out there.
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I'll be damned if I want most folks out there to do unto me what they do unto themselves.
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The dream is real, my friends. The failure to make it work is the unreality.
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