Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Anne LamottRead
In a library, you can find small miracles and truth, and you might find something that will make you laugh so hard that you will get shushed, in the friendliest way. I have found sanctuary in libraries my whole life, and there is sanctuary there now, from the war, from the storms of our families and our own minds. Libraries are like mountains or meadows or creeks: sacred space. So this afternoon, I'll walk to the library.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the transformative power of libraries as safe spaces filled with knowledge and joy.
In this quote, Anne Lamott highlights the comforting and enriching experiences that libraries offer. She describes them as sanctuaries that provide not only knowledge but also moments of joy and laughter. The metaphor of libraries as natural landscapes, like mountains and meadows, emphasizes their sacred nature as places where one can escape the turmoil of life and find peace amidst chaos.
Themes
LibrariesSanctuaryKnowledgeJoyEscapePeace
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of education, I could use this quote to illustrate how libraries serve as safe havens of learning.
More from Anne Lamott
All quotes →Or you might shout at the top of your lungs or whisper into your sleeve, "I hate you, God." That is a prayer too, because it is real, it is truth, and maybe it is the first sincere thought you've had in months.
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Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
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It is hard to remember that you are a cherished spiritual being when you're burping up apple fritters and Cheetos.
Anne LamottRead
Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.
Anne LamottRead
...because when people have seen you at their worst, you don't have to put on the mask as much.
Anne LamottRead
Similar quotes
I am not your dear; I cannot lie down: send me to school soon, Mrs. Reed, for I hate to live here.
Charlotte BronteRead
Princeton ignited my intellectual curiosity and introduced me to a new social world. It... challenged me on the most fundamental levels imaginable. It was where I became a man.
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Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to use all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment.
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Once you've got a child to the point that they've discovered books, they're safe. There's a world of the imagination that when they're hurt or upset, they can move into, and it is wonderful.
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I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.
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The age of the pulp magazine was the last in which youngsters, to get their primitive material, were forced to be literate.
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