People like eccentrics. Therefore they will leave me alone, saying that I am a mad clown.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on how eccentricity can lead to social isolation while also granting a sense of freedom.
In this quote, Vaslav Nijinsky expresses the paradox of being perceived as eccentric or 'mad,' suggesting that such a reputation allows him the freedom to be himself without the constraints of societal norms. The acknowledgment that people are drawn to eccentricity yet will keep their distance highlights the complex relationship between individuality and social acceptance.
In practice
During a speech on creativity, one might use this quote to highlight the value of embracing one's uniqueness.
I do not like eating meat because I have seen lambs and pigs killed. I saw and felt their pain. They felt the approaching death. I could not bear it. I cried like a child. I ran up a hill and could not breathe. I felt that I was choking. I felt the death of the lamb.
The more uncertain I have felt about myself, the more there has grown up in me a feeling of kinship with all things.
The spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned ... .
Be still. it takes no effort to be still; it is utterly simple. When your mind is still, you have no name, you have no past, you have no relationships, you have no country, you have no spiritual attainment, you have no lack of spiritual attainment. There is just the presence of beingness with itself.
The god whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals.
I suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why canβt people be happier together?
There is a world inside the world.
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