I don't think the world will destroy itself in a nuclear cataclysm. On the contrary, we have the capacity to save ourselves and save the planet, and we will use it.
Isabel AllendeRead
One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a city or a county, and move West, most of the time West. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the ability to start anew and embrace change in North American culture.
Isabel Allende's quote reflects the idea that North American culture encourages individuals to leave behind their past and welcome new beginnings. It suggests that through physical movement—be it changing cities or states—people can shed their guilt and traditions, making way for personal growth and exploration. The metaphor of moving West symbolizes not only a geographical journey but also a mental or emotional one, where one chooses to embrace new opportunities and experiences.
Themes
ChangeNew BeginningsGrowthFreedomTravel
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming obstacles and starting fresh.
More from Isabel Allende
All quotes →My mother is a great artist, but she always treated her paintings like minor postcards. Had she pursued it, she would have been a great artist. Instead, she looked down on her art.
Isabel AllendeRead
I never try to convey a message, I just want to tell a story. Why that story in particular? I have no idea, but I have learned to surrender to the muse. I become obsessed with a theme or with certain stories; they haunt me for years, and finally, I write them.
Isabel AllendeRead
My life is about ups and downs, great joys and great losses.
Isabel AllendeRead
I'm interested in people who have to overcome obstacles, people who are not sheltered by the umbrella of the establishment, marginals.
Isabel AllendeRead
I'm a writer. In Latin America, they say I'm a Latin-American writer because I also write in Spanish and my books are translated, but I am an American citizen and my books are published here, so I'm also an American writer.
Isabel AllendeRead
Similar quotes
The present Arab uprising didn't stem from Israel. The old guard is trying to keep down the young chickens. The old guard is better organized. They may win elections, but unless they have a solution to poverty, to corruption, to oppression, they will not last. I am with the young people.
Shimon PeresRead
In old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child's.
George EliotRead
One mighty deed can change the course of things; a lonely thought becomes omnipotent.
Sri AurobindoRead
Our country's liberation struggle arose as a consequence of the contradiction between colonized and colonizers, between exploited and exploiters. Reformist patterns of nationalist pressure were precluded by the very nature of colonial fascism.
Samora MachelRead
It seems very strange ... that in the course of the world's history so obvious an improvement should never have been adopted. ... The next generation of Britishers would be the better for having had this extra hour of daylight in their childhood.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
More people are killed by stray bullets every day in America than have been killed by Ebola here. More are dying because of poverty and hunger.
Robert ReichRead