If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
James ThurberRead
Nowadays men lead lives of noisy desperation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the chaos and unfulfilled desires of modern life.
James Thurber's quote reflects on the modern human condition, suggesting that many individuals are trapped in a state of frantic activity and anxiety rather than achieving true satisfaction or peace. The 'noisy desperation' points to the outward expressions of internal struggles, indicating that instead of finding fulfillment, people are often caught in a cycle of restlessness and despair.
Themes
DesperationLifeMeaningSatisfactionAnxiety
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about mental health awareness to highlight the struggles many face in contemporary society.
More from James Thurber
All quotes βSpeed is scarcely the noblest virtue of graphic composition, but it has its curious rewards. There is a sense of getting somewhere fast, which satisfies a native American urge.
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The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.
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Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street.
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The appreciative smile, the chuckle, the soundless mirth, so important to the success of comedy, cannot be understood unless one sits among the audience and feels the warmth created by the quality of laughter that the audience takes home with it.
James ThurberRead
Unless artists can remember what it was to be a little boy, they are only half complete as artist and as man.
James ThurberRead
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