If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
If she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the theme of societal judgment and the consequences of being different or ahead of one's time.
John Updike's quote highlights the historical context of societal intolerance towards individuals who challenge norms or display unique qualities. By referencing the witch trials in Salem, he suggests that individuals who innovate or think differently can face severe backlash in any era, underscoring the continuous struggle for acceptance and understanding across time.
In practice
During a lecture on social justice, one might use this quote to discuss societal norms and the consequences of ostracizing those who are different.
If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of. _x000D_ _x000D_ Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.
Museums and bookstores should feel, I think, like vacant lots - places where the demands on us are our own demands, where the spirit can find exercise in unsupervised play.
But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the dark.
The reader knows the writer better than he knows himself; but the writer's physical presence is light from a star that has moved on.
To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.
The battle against the Devil, which is the principal task of Saint Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today, because the Devil is still alive and active in the world.
If gold has been prized because it is the most inert element, changeless and incorruptible, water is prized for the opposite reason -- its fluidity, mobility, changeability that make it a necessity and a metaphor for life itself. To value gold over water is to value economy over ecology, that which can be locked up over that which connects all things.
We are all mediators, translators.
Sex is the ersatz or substitute religion of the 20th Century.
The letter kills the spirit. The written text is mute in the face of responding challenge. It does not admit of inward growth and correction. Text subverts the absolutely vital role of memory.
Morality and values depend on the existence of conscious minds - and specifically on the fact that such minds can experience various forms of well-being and suffering in this universe.
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