I'm always drawn to stories that people don't know about, particularly when they're inside of a story that everyone knows about.
When I was a kid, all I knew was that I felt more comfortable sitting in one chair than in another. And now I realize it was because one chair was older. I still respond directly to the age of things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on how personal comfort and preferences can be influenced by the history and age of objects.
In this quote, Robert Redford shares a profound realization from his childhood about feeling comfortable in certain chairs over others. He acknowledges that his preference was not arbitrary but was influenced by the age and presence of the objects around him. This observation suggests a deeper connection between individuals and their environments, highlighting how our experiences with aged items can elicit familiarity, comfort, and a sense of history. It hints at an innate human response to the essence and stories that older things carry, which can affect our emotional states and perceptions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on nostalgia, one might reference this quote to discuss how our past shapes our present preferences.
More from Robert Redford
All quotes →People say I've gone against Hollywood, but I've tried to be independent within Hollywood, tried to be my own person.
For me, the Sundance Institute is just an extension of something I believed in, which is creating a mechanism for new voices to have a place to develop and be heard.
Storytelling was a way to see the world bigger than the one you were looking at, and that had great appeal for me. I think, since that was part of my upbringing, it became part of me, and I wanted to pass it along to my kids and my grandkids.
Be careful of success; it has a dark side.
I had just arrived in New York from California. I was nineteen years old and excited beyond belief. I was an art student and an acting student and behaved as most young actors did - meaning that there was no such thing as a good actor, 'cause you yourself hadn't shown up yet.
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