I did not realize that when money becomes a core value, then education drives towards utility or that the life of the mind will not be counted as good unless it produces measurable results. That public services will no longer be important. That an alternative life to getting and spending will become very difficult as cheap housing disappears. That when communities are destroyed only misery and intolerance are left.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the prioritization of money over education and public services, highlighting the consequences of a consumer-driven society.
In this quote, Jeanette Winterson reflects on the dangers of valuing money above all else, warning that education and intellectual pursuits become subservient to economic utility. She expresses concern that as community values erode in favor of profit, social cohesion deteriorates, leading to a society marked by misery and intolerance. This underscores the importance of nurturing values beyond mere financial gain, advocating for a more balanced approach to life that respects community and intellect.
In practice
During a speech on the importance of community values, this quote highlights the need to prioritize public services over profit.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.
The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.
Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.
was it a vision or a waking dream? Fled is that music--do I wake or sleep?
Tragedy is restful: and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it.
Life is life - whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage.
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