For if we're destroyed, the knowledge is dead...We're nothing more than dust jackets for books...so many pages to a person.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the value of knowledge and the mortality of human life, emphasizing that our essence is tied to the knowledge we acquire and pass on.
Ray Bradbury's quote suggests that our existence is intricately linked to the knowledge we hold. If we lose our lives, the wisdom and experiences we have gathered become lost as well, likening human beings to mere 'dust jackets' that encase the profound knowledge represented by our 'pages.' It emphasizes the importance of cherishing and sharing knowledge, as it is ultimately what gives our lives depth and meaning.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a graduation speech to inspire students about the importance of knowledge.
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 canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt 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.
I seek the lessons God wants to teach me, and that means that I ask why.
The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.
Bring anger and pride under your feet, _x000D_ turn them into a ladder and climb higher.
What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment.
I don't care whether the people believe me to be a prophet, seer, or revelator or not - I have been very profitable to this people, and I have seen a good many things, and I have revealed many things.
Perhaps a wiser eye than hers would be able to read tomorrow in tonight's stars, but where was the fun in that? It was better not to know. Better to be alive in the Here and the Now--in this bright, laughing moment--and let the Hours to come take care of themselves.
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