The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DelilloRead
Look at those numbers running. Money makes time. It used to be the other way around. Clock time accelerated the rise of capitalism. People stopped thinking about eternity. They began to concentrate on hours, measurable hours,man-hours, using labor more efficiently.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the relationship between time and money in the context of capitalism.
Don Delillo's quote examines how the rise of capitalism transformed society's perception of time from a spiritual or eternal concept to a measurable commodity. As money became a dominant force, time was increasingly viewed in terms of efficiency and productivity, leading to a narrowed focus on immediate gains rather than longer-term meaning or existential reflections.
In practice
In a discussion on the impact of capitalism during a seminar.
The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
[I]n the American soul there is a lonely individual standing in a vast landscape. He is either on a horse or driving a car, depending, and either way he’s carrying a gun. This is one of the essential images in American mythology.
Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government.
Is it easier for a man to live his life again as a fish, than to accept the wonder of being human? So alone, so frightened, so wanting for what we are afraid to give tongue to.
We are flawed creatures, all of us. Some of us think that means we should fix our flaws. But get rid of my flaws and there would be no one left.
This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.
Experience had taught me that innocence seldom utters outraged shrikes. Guilt does. Innocence is a mighty shield, and the man or woman covered by it, is much more likely to answer calmly: 'My life is blameless. Look into it, if you like, for you will find nothing.' That is the tone of innocence.
It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
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