It seems to me that we often commit ourselves wholly to something while knowing almost nothing concrete about it. Another word for that, I suppose, is 'faith.'
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the nature of faith in committing to beliefs or ideas without complete understanding.
Zadie Smith's quote suggests that individuals frequently dedicate themselves entirely to a belief or endeavor without having a thorough grasp of it. This phenomenon is characterized as 'faith', which implies a certain level of trust or assurance despite lacking solid evidence or understanding. It prompts reflection on the nature of our commitments and the idea that sometimes, faith can lead us to invest in things without full clarity.
In practice
Using this quote in a discussion about the nature of belief systems.
Because immigrants have always been particularly prone to repetition - it's something to do with that experience of moving from West to East or East to West or from island to island. Even when you arrive, you're still going back and forth; your children are going round and round. There's no proper term for it - original sin seems too harsh; maybe original trauma would be better.
You know, you don't expect everyone to be as educated as everyone else or have the same achievements, but you expect at least to be offered at least some of the opportunities, and libraries are the most simple and the most open way to give people access to books.
He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.
We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are. Which leads me to my second point: writers do not write what they want, they write what they can.
I think of reading like a balanced diet; if your sentences are too baggy, too baroque, cut back on fatty Foster Wallace, say, and pick up Kafka as roughage.
I never attended a creative writing class in my life. I have a horror of them.
Being a practiced liar doesn't mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all; it's that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.
Far more has been accomplished for the welfare and progress of mankind by preventing bad actions than by doing good ones.
Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward.
Philanthropic and religious bodies do not commonly make their executive officers out of saints.
A door that seems to stand open must be of a man's size, or it is not the door that providence means for him.
Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.
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