A good poet feels what his community feels. _x000D_ Like if you stub your toe, the rest of your body hurts.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom - and lakes die.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans have the power to create and destroy, showcasing their complexity.
This quote reflects on the duality of human nature, emphasizing our ability to bring life and beauty to the world, such as making deserts bloom, while simultaneously being capable of destruction, like causing lakes to dry up. It serves as a reminder of the profound impact that humanity can have on the environment and our moral responsibility in wielding such power.
Themes
HumanityNatureComplexityCreationDestruction
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might say, 'As Gil Scott-Heron noted, mankind can make deserts bloom, reminding us of our potential for positive change.'
More from Gil Scott-Heron
All quotes βThe revolution will be no re-run brothers,_x000D_ The revolution will be live.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
You will not be able to stay home, brother./You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out./You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,/Skip out for beer during commercials,/Because the revolution will not be televised.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
I've always had questions about what it meant to be a protester, to be in the minority. Are the people who are trying to find peace, who are trying to have the Constitution apply to everybody, are they really the radicals? We're not protesting from the outside. We're inside.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
Every once in a while, you live long enough to get the respect that people didn't want to give while you were trying to become a senior citizen.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
You know what has made me the happiest I've ever been? Seeing my son and daughter graduate from college. More than wanting them to be educated, I wanted them to be nice people. To see that they have become both is just a wonderful thing.
Gil Scott-HeronRead
Similar quotes
Believe nothing,_x000D_ _x000D_ No matter where you read it,_x000D_ _x000D_ Or who has said it,_x000D_ _x000D_ Not even if I have said it,_x000D_ _x000D_ Unless it agrees with your own reason_x000D_ _x000D_ And your own common sense.
Gautama BuddhaRead
We don't cut up when mad men are bred by the old legitimate regular stock religions, but we can't allow wildcat religions to indulge in such disastrous experiments.
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Tears throw a veil over our faults and allow us to accuse fate without fear or contradiction.
Italo SvevoRead
Realise this: one day your soul_x000D_ will depart from your body and you will_x000D_ be drawn behind the curtain that floats between us_x000D_ and the unknown. While you wait for that moment, be happy,_x000D_ because you don't know where you came from and_x000D_ you don't know where you will be going.
Omar KhayyamRead
There comes a time when the blankness of the future is just so extreme, it's like such a black wall of nothingness. Not of bad things like a cave full of monsters and so, you're afraid of entering it. It's just nothingness, the void, emptiness and it is just horrible. It's like contemplating a future-less future and so you just want to step out of it. The monstrosity of being alive overwhelms you.
Stephen FryRead
Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.
Simone De BeauvoirRead