It does not seem to me that I have the right to foist a story on people, most of whom are children who should be learning all the time, unless I am learning from it too.
Diana Wynne JonesRead
I don’t think I will get married,” Polly said as she stood up. “I’m going to train to be a hero instead.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Choosing personal development over traditional paths can lead to meaningful contributions to society.
In this quote, Polly asserts her intention to prioritize her own journey of self-discovery and heroism over societal expectations like marriage. This highlights the importance of personal choices that align with one's values and aspirations, encouraging individuals to pursue their own definitions of success and fulfillment.
Themes
HeroTrainingPersonal GrowthIndependenceChoice
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation speech to inspire the graduates to follow their passions.
More from Diana Wynne Jones
All quotes →Imagination doesn’t just mean making things up. It means thinking things through, solving them, or hoping to do so, and being just distant enough to be able to laugh at things that are normally painful. Head teachers would call this escapism, but they would be entirely wrong. I would call fantasy the most serious, and the most useful, branch of writing there is. And this is why I don’t, and never would, write Real Books.
Diana Wynne JonesRead
Similar quotes
The avarice person is ever in want; let your desired aim have a fixed limit.
HoraceRead
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.
Thomas JeffersonRead
The longer I live, the more I observe that carrying around anger is the most debilitating to the person who bears it.
Katharine GrahamRead
But the whim we have of happiness is somewhat thus. By certain valuations, and averages, of our own striking, we come upon some sort of average terrestrial lot; this we fancy belongs to us by nature, and of indefeasible rights. It is simple payment of our wages, of our deserts; requires neither thanks nor complaint. Foolish soul! What act of legislature was there that thou shouldst be happy? A little while ago thou hadst no right to be at all.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Yet if a woman never lets herself go, how will she ever know how far she might have got? If she never takes off her high-heeled shoes, how will she ever know how far she could walk or how fast she could run?
Germaine GreerRead
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, and that craves wary walking.
William ShakespeareRead