It's a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That's where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.
BonoRead
I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that's why they're so relatable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Bono presents the Old Testament as a dramatic and chaotic narrative that reflects human behavior and struggles.
In this quote, Bono likens the Old Testament to an action movie filled with intense and chaotic scenarios, emphasizing that its narratives are over-the-top yet fundamentally relatable. By highlighting the tumultuous events and the flawed nature of its characters, he suggests that these stories resonate with our own experiences of chaos and moral ambiguity, making them both engaging and recognizable.
Themes
Old TestamentAction MovieChaosHuman BehaviorRelatability
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about the relevance of religious texts in modern life, this quote could be used to illustrate the relatable nature of ancient stories.
More from Bono
All quotes →Perspective is the cure for depression.
BonoRead
At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.
BonoRead
It's much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant. The tricks won't keep you relevant. Tricks might keep you popular for a while, but in all honesty, I don't know how U2 will stay relevant. I know we've got a future. I know we can fill stadiums. And yet with every record, I think, 'Is this it? Are we still relevant?'
BonoRead
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.
BonoRead
Hanging out with politicians and corporations is very unhip work. But I think that the U2 audience have turned out to be incredibly subtle in their understanding.
BonoRead
Similar quotes
Some false representations contravene the law; some do not. The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business, and, besides, could not be done. The line between honesty and dishonesty is a narrow, shifting one and usually lets those get by that are the most subtle and already have more than they can use.
Clarence DarrowRead
The possession of power inevitably spoils the free use of reason.
Immanuel KantRead
It was a hollow victory they gave me. A crown...it was the girl I prayed them for. Your sister, safe... and mine again as she was meant to be. I ask you, Ned, what good is it to wear a crown?
George R. R. MartinRead
She starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
A star can never die. It just turns into a smile and melts back into the cosmic music, the dance of life.
Michael JacksonRead
In front of the photograph of my mother as a child, I tell myself: she is going to die: I shudder, like winnicott's psychotic patient, over a catastrophe which has already occurred. Whether or not the subject is already dead, every photograph is this catastrophe.
Roland BarthesRead