The function of a book or a poem or a story is to delight, to enchant, to beguile.
Philip PullmanRead
We have to build the Republic of Heaven where we are, because for us there is no elsewhere.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of creating a sense of paradise and fulfillment in our current lives, rather than seeking it elsewhere.
Philip Pullman's quote suggests that we should focus on improving our present circumstances and creating a better world around us. The idea of building the 'Republic of Heaven' implies that happiness and fulfillment are not destinations to be found elsewhere, but rather responsibilities we hold in our current lives and environment. It invites self-reflection and encourages us to take action to create the ideal world we desire right where we are.
Themes
HeavenPresentResponsibilityHappinessCreation
In practice
Example use cases
In a community meeting to inspire local initiatives.
More from Philip Pullman
All quotes βEducation and health were always matters of charity. You educated children and you helped the sick because they were good things to do, not because you were going to make money out of them. If you let the money-making principle, the profit-seeking motive, anywhere near education and health, things go bad.
Philip PullmanRead
To get the best out of life here ...Good grief. There's plenty of it about, so indulge. Give yourself some thing to remember. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Gamble. Get drunk. See how long you can stay awake. Go for long walks at night. Discover what you're afraid of doing, and then do it.
Philip PullmanRead
People should decide on the books' meanings for themselves. They'll find a story that attacks such things as cruelty, oppression, intolerance, unkindness, narrow-mindedness, and celebrates love, kindness, open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity, human intelligence.
Philip PullmanRead
I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none.
Philip PullmanRead
Lyra learns to her great cost that fantasy isnβt enough. She has been lying all her life, telling stories to people, making up fantasies, and suddenly she comes to a point where thatβs not enough. All she can do is tell the truth. She tells the truth about her childhood, about the experiences she had in Oxford, and that is what saves her. True experience, not fantasy - reality, not lies - is what saves us in the end.
Philip PullmanRead
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I am simultaneously and contradictorily both happy and unhappy: 'to succeed' or 'to fail' have for me only ephemeral, contingent meanings (this does not stop my desires and sorrows from being violent ones); what impels me, secretly and obstinately, is not tactical: I accept and I affirm, irrespective of the true and the false, of success and failure; I am withdrawn from all finality, I live according to chance.
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All my writing is about the recognition that there is no single reality. But the beauty of it is that you nevertheless go on, walking towards utopia, which may not exist, on a bridge which might end before you reach the other side.
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A man is called a good fellow for doing things which, if done by a woman, would land her in a lunatic asylum.
H. L. MenckenRead
It's not a problem that we're sinners; it's a problem that we aren't ashamed of our sin and don't seek forgiveness.
Pope FrancisRead