To be human and to be adult means constantly to be in the grip of opposing emotions, to have daily to reconcile apparently conflicting tensions. I want this, but need that. I cherish this, but I adore its opposite too.
Stephen FryRead
I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the inherent power within oneself to endure and create, highlighting the real strength of perseverance and creativity.
In this quote, Stephen Fry eloquently expresses the incredible power of human existence, emphasizing not only the ability to endure life's challenges but also the capacity to create and transform one's surroundings. He suggests that this power is not supernatural but deeply rooted in the human spirit, illustrating a profound appreciation for the resilience and creativity that resides within every individual.
Themes
PowerEnduranceCreativityTransformationResilience
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.
More from Stephen Fry
All quotes →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
As someone who worked hard for a Labour victory in the 90s, do I regret it? Not really. It was bound to happen. And it'll happen with the next government, and the one after it. Because all governments serve us. They serve the filth.
Stephen FryRead
It's now very common to hear people say 'I'm rather offended by that'.
Stephen FryRead
You can't just say there is a God because well, the world is beautiful. You have to account for bone cancer in children. You have to account for the fact that almost all animals in the wild live under stress with not enough to eat and will die violent and bloody deaths. There is not any way that you can just choose the nice bits and say that means there is a God and ignore the true fact of what nature is.
Stephen FryRead
Money is to Everything as an Aeroplane is to Australia. The aeroplane isn't Australia, but it remains the only practical way we know of reaching it. So perhaps, metonymically, the aeroplane is Australia after all.
Stephen FryRead
Similar quotes
Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
AesopRead
You are your own highest authority. Do not place your source of authority outside of you. Go within to see if the truth you've found is in harmony with the truth you find in your heart.
Neale Donald WalschRead
It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down. For the needs of today we have corresponding strength given. For the morrow we are told to trust. It is not ours yet. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.
George MacdonaldRead
[T]he values to which people cling most stubbornly under inappropriate conditions are those values that were previously the source of their greatest triumphs.
Jared DiamondRead
If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.
Orville WrightRead
There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.
Washington IrvingRead