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
Reading is like looking through several windows which open to an infinite landscape....For me life without reading would be like being in prison, it would be as if my spirit were in a straightjacket; life would be a very dark and narrow place.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading expands our perspectives and is essential for a fulfilling life.
In this quote, Isabel Allende emphasizes the transformative power of reading, comparing it to opening windows that reveal a vast, infinite landscape. She suggests that without the insights and experiences provided by books, life becomes confined and limiting, akin to imprisonment, where the spirit feels restrained and the world appears dark and narrow.
Themes
ReadingBooksImaginationLifeFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion, I shared this quote to illustrate the importance of literature in our lives.
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
Actually if a writer needs a dictionary he should not write. He should have read the dictionary at least three times from beginning to end and then have loaned it to someone who needs it. There are only certain words which are valid and similes (bring me my dictionary) are like defective ammunition (the lowest thing I can think of at this time).
Ernest HemingwayRead
You can't really be scientifically literate if you don't understand evolution. And you can't be an educated member of society if you don't understand science.
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Reading is an exercise for learning how to write and vice versa. I have read myself into being a Christian, but I have also written myself into being a Christian.
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Teaching is more difficult than learning because what teaching calls for is this: to let learn. The real teacher, in fact, lets nothing else be learned than learning. His conduct, therefore, often produces the impression that we properly learn nothing from him, if by "learning" we now suddenly understand merely the procurement of useful information.
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Children don't need much advice but they really do need to be listened to and not just with half an ear.
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If you've found some way to educate yourself about engineering, stocks, or whatever it is, good employers will have some type of exam or interview and see a sample of your work.
Bill GatesRead