Life, like poker has an element of risk. It shouldn't be avoided. It should be faced.
Interpretation
Life involves taking risks that should be confronted rather than avoided.
In this quote, Edward Norton draws a parallel between life and poker, emphasizing that just as poker entails risks and uncertainty, so does life. Instead of shying away from risks, we should embrace them, as they are an integral part of our experiences and growth, helping us to navigate through life's unpredictable nature.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about overcoming fear.
Look, you've got a generation of people coming along who are going to form their own new relationship with the idea of supporting the causes that they care about or changing the world. And these people are not going to do it the way our parents do it.
I've observed over and over that people seem to get a much deeper sense of fulfillment out of something they've done as an act of service than out of the things they do for themselves.
Basically, I think 21st century conservation is moving toward preserving ecosystems by dealing with the needs of people.
I'm fascinated by the ways in which people express themselves, because their responses are often counter to what they're actually feeling. Like when they're frightened, they tend to freeze. When they're angry, it doesn't always come out as volume. There are wonderful contradictions in the way that people express their emotions.
I think there is a serious corruption in the idea sold through advertising that you can attain spiritual peace through lifestyle and the notion of building your happiness from the outside-in by acquiring things . . . which if you think about it, is the essence of advertising
In drama, I think, the audience is a willing participant. It's suspending a certain kind of disbelief to try to get something out of a story.
It's frightening to wake up one morning and discover that while you were asleep you went out of style.
Maybe you had to leave in order to really miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was.
But where, after we have made the great decision to leave the security of childhood and move on into the vastness of maturity, does anybody ever feel completely at home?
We'll bury our mothers and fathers - shuttling our children off for sleepovers, jumping on red-eyes, telling eachother stories that hurt to hear, about gasping, agonal breaths, hospice nurses, scars and bruises and scabs, and how skin papers shortly after a person passes. We will nod in agreement that it is as much an honor to witness a person leave this world as it is to watch a person come into it.
If you use that time where you're alone in ways that bring you joy and peace, then that solitude can have a really positive effect on your life.
I learned early that the richness of life is found in adventure. Adventure calls on all the faculties of mind and spirit. It develops self-reliance and independence. Life then teems with excitement. But man is not ready for adventure unless he is rid of fear. For fear confines him and limits his scope. He stays tethered by strings of doubt and indecision and has only a small and narrow world to explore.
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