As I go to sleep I remember what my father said-that one can never be sure if one will awake. The way my health is now, this is becoming more and more real.
Jerzy KosinskiRead
Here was one place where I could find out who I was and what I was going to become. And that was the public library.
Interpretation
The public library serves as a vital space for self-discovery and personal growth.
In this quote, Jerzy Kosinski highlights the importance of public libraries as sanctuaries for individuals seeking to understand their own identities and futures. Libraries provide more than just books; they offer resources, knowledge, and an environment conducive to introspection and learning, which can significantly shape one's life path.
In practice
During a speech at a community event, I might quote this to emphasize the importance of libraries in personal development.
As I go to sleep I remember what my father said-that one can never be sure if one will awake. The way my health is now, this is becoming more and more real.
Lovers are not snails; they don't have to protrude from their shells and meet each other halfway. Meet me within your own self.
Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.
From the boys' point of view, scouting puts them into fraternity-gangs, which is their natural organisation, whether for games, mischief, or loafing; it gives them a smart dress and equipments; it appeals to their imagination and romance; and it engages them in an active, open-air life.
I have sometimes dreamt ... that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards -- their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble -- the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when He sees us coming with our books under our arms, "Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.
A society's competitive advantage will come not from how well its schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity.
My filmmaking education consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films. I learned the technical stuff from books and magazines, and with the new technology you can watch entire movies accompanied by audio commentary from the director. You can learn more from John Sturges' audio track on the 'Bad Day at Black Rock' laserdisc than you can in 20 years of film school. Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
A child must learn early to believe that she is somebody worthwhile, and that she can do many praiseworthy things.
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