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.
To live life is to make a succession of errors. Understanding this can bring us great ease and forgiveness for ourselves and others.
The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer.
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
You have to feed your soul and spirit, but you also have to be a professional and remember the business that you're in. Everything is not your passion project.
Like it or not, i was already learning that in the worst and darkest time, I would find specks of light, moments of joy. What I didn't want to learn was the other, harsher lesson - that in life's brightest moments there would also be unbearable pain. p 87
Appear to know only this--never to fail nor fall.
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