In apartments and cottages, on the street and in the train... I listen... More and more, I turn into one large ear, always turning to another person.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Nothing, not even human life, is more precious to us than our myths about ourselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our self-perception and personal myths are deeply valuable, often surpassing even the value of life itself.
Svetlana Alexievich's quote emphasizes the importance of the narratives we create about ourselves and our identities. These myths shape our understanding of who we are and influence our decisions and behaviors, highlighting that the stories we believe can be more essential than the physical realities of existence, including life itself.
Themes
MythsIdentitySelf-PerceptionValueExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about self-identity and personal growth.
More from Svetlana Alexievich
All quotes βThe subjects I wanted to write about - the mystery of the human soul, evil - didn't interest newspapers, and news reporting bored me.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
'Women's' war has its own colors, its own smells, its own lighting, and its own range of feelings. There are no heroes and incredible feats; there are simply people who are busy doing inhumanly human things.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
There is no need to give in to the compromise that totalitarian regimes always count on.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
I've been searching for a genre that would be most adequate to my vision of the world to convey how my ear hears and my eyes see life. I tried this and that, and finally, I chose a genre where human voices speak for themselves. But I don't just record a dry history of events and facts; I'm writing a history of human feelings.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
From the point of view of art, the butcher and the victim are equal as people. You need to see the people.
Svetlana AlexievichRead
Similar quotes
In the beginning there was the word. The word was Jah. The word is in I, Jah is in I. I make what is good, better, and what is better, best. I follow this in every aspect of life.
Peter ToshRead
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Class is something that I think seriously about and try to organise my politics around. I think there are lots of novels that don't really engage with questions of class at all, and they get less conversation about issues of social privilege than I do. But it's better to try and talk about it and maybe fail.
Sally RooneyRead
No company can be expected to build a nuclear reactor, an oil well, a coal mine, or anything else that's one hundred percent safe under all circumstances. The costs would be prohibitive. It's unreasonable to expect corporations to totally guard against small chances of every potential accident.
Robert ReichRead
As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this.
George MasonRead
I can promise you none of these things. No sphere of usefulness; you are not needed there at all. No scope of your talents; only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquiry, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God. (pg 40)
C. S. LewisRead