Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.
Jules RenardRead
If I had my life to live over again, I would ask that not a thing be changed, but that my eyes be opened wider.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire for greater awareness and appreciation of life rather than longing for a different life.
Jules Renard reflects on the notion that if he had the chance to live his life again, he wouldn't wish for any changes to the events that transpired. Instead, he wishes for a broader perspective, implying that a deeper understanding and awareness of life's experiences can enhance one's appreciation for the journey they have taken.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing life's challenges.
Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.
If one were to build the house of happiness, the largest space would be the waiting room.
When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.
It doesn't pay to say too much when you are mad enough to choke. For the word that stings the deepest is the word that is never spoke, Let the other fellow wrangle till the storm has blown away, then he'll do a heap of thinking about the things you didn't say.
Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none
I have no religion,β says Borneau, βbut I respect the religion of others. Religion is sacred.β Why this privilege, this immunity?... A believer creates God in his own image; if he is ugly, his God will be morally ugly. Why should moral ugliness be respectable?
Life is a train that stops at no stations; you either jump abroad or stand on the platform and watch as it passes.
My story starts with my dad, a black boy born to a single mother in a small town in North Carolina. It starts with my parents meeting in Washington, D.C., in the '60s, at a time of incredible activism.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
You know how every now and then, you have a moment where your whole life stretches out ahead of you like a forked road, and even as you choose one gritty path you've got your eyes on the other the whole time, certain that you're making a mistake.
Before undergoing a surgical operation, arrange your temporal affairs. You may live.
Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine and valleys of frustration and failure.
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