He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required
Marilynne RobinsonRead
Writing nonfiction has been my most serious education, and for all those years it kept me from even glancing in the direction of despair.
Interpretation
Writing nonfiction greatly contributed to my education and prevented me from succumbing to despair.
In this quote, Marilynne Robinson reflects on the transformative power of writing nonfiction and how it has served as a profound educational experience for her. She emphasizes that throughout her years of engaging with nonfiction, the act of writing not only educated her but also provided a sense of purpose and hope that kept her from falling into despair, highlighting the value of creative expression in coping with life's challenges.
In practice
In a writing workshop, you can inspire participants by sharing this quote to emphasize the educational value of writing.
He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required
It seems to me there is less meanness in atheism, by a good measure. It seems that the spirit of religious self-righteousness this article deplores is precisely the spirit in which it is written. Of course he's right about many things, one of them being the destructive potency of religious self-righteousness. (p. 146)
A narrow pond would form in the orchard, water clear as air covering grass and black leaves and fallen branches, all around it black leaves and drenched grass and fallen branches, and on it, slight as an image in an eye, sky, clouds, trees, our hovering faces and our cold hands.
The moon looks wonderful in this warm evening light, just as a candle flame looks beautiful in the light of morning. Light within light...It seems to me to be a metaphor for the human soul, the singular light within that great general light of existence.
There are worries that seem to me sustained by the love of worry. For example, that people are reading from screens, or listening to recorded books. Why scold the impulse to enjoy language and narrative in whatever form it takes?
Teaching is a distraction and a burden, but it's also an incredible stimulus. And a reprieve, in a way. When you're trying to work on something and it's not going anywhere, you can go to school and there's a two-and-a-half-hour block of time in which you can accomplish something.
Kids not only need to read a lot but they need lots of books they can read right at their fingertips.They also need access to books that entice them, attract them to reading. Schools...can make it easy and unrisky for children to take books home for the evening or weekend by worrying less about losing books to children and more about losing children to illiteracy.
A book is one of the most patient of all man's inventions. Centuries mean nothing to a well-made book. It awaits its destined reader, come when he may, with eager hand and seeing eye. Then occurs one of the great examples of union, that of a man with a book, pleasurable, sometimes fruitful, potentially world-changing, simple; and in a library...witho ut cost to the reader.
Do I dare set forth here the most important, the most useful rule of all education? It is not to save time, but to squander it.
Questions are the important thing, answers are less important. Learning to ask a good question is the heart of intelligence. Learning the answer-well, answers are for students. Questions are for thinkers.
A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.
The door available to everyone that can lead to happiness & success is the modest door of the public library. I found it to be so in my own life and work.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.