There are too many of us, he thought. There are billions of us and that's too many. Nobody knows anyone. Strangers come and violate you. Strangers come and cut your heart out. Strangers come and take your blood. Good God, who were those men? I never saw them before in my life!
Interpretation
The quote reflects the alienation and fear brought about by an overcrowded and disconnected society.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury expresses the feelings of isolation and anxiety that can arise in a world filled with billions of people, where individuals feel like strangers to one another. The imagery of violence and violation highlights a sense of vulnerability and disconnection that can permeate urban life, pointing to the emotional impact of living in a crowded environment where meaningful connections are rare.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about mental health in urban environments.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.
The letter kills the spirit. The written text is mute in the face of responding challenge. It does not admit of inward growth and correction. Text subverts the absolutely vital role of memory.
Those who, like the beasts, have no such Hope, pass their old age shrouded with an inward gloom.
There have been household gods and household saints and household fairies. I am not sure that there have yet been any factory gods or factory saints or factory fairies. I may be wrong, as I am no commericial expert, but I have not heard of them as yet.
Where perception is, there also are pain and pleasure, and where these are, there, of necessity, is desire.
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
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