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.
Interpretation
Books have a powerful allure that can compel individuals to endure difficult situations.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury emphasizes the profound impact that literature can have on individuals, especially women, suggesting that the deep emotional or intellectual connection to books can be so strong that it motivates people to withstand great adversity. The metaphor of a 'burning house' symbolizes extreme danger or discomfort, further highlighting the extraordinary influence that reading can have on a person’s choices and priorities in life.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of reading in schools.
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.
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.
Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there was it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away.
I remember going to university, and the people who'd left home for the first time looked at the food and were horrified. Whereas, my view was that if it was vaguely edible, then it's fine.
A book is a garden, a party, a company by the way.
Both education and religion need to ground themselves within the story of the universe as we now understand this story through empirical knowledge. Within this functional cosmology, we can overcome our alienation and begin the renewal of life on a sustainable basis. This story is a numinous revelatory story that could evoke the vision and the energy required to bring not only ourselves but the entire planet into a new order of magnificence.
I think that the greatest education in the world is the education which helps one to be able to do the right things at the time it has to be done.
Schools should take part in the great work of construction and organization that will have to be done.
I always read. You know how sharks have to keep swimming or they die? I’m like that. If I stop reading, I die.
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